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It’s time. As much as it pains me, I must purge my bookshelves a bit. Because I’m your fan, I want to share my purgings with you. Huh. That didn’t come out right, did it.

Moving on–we have a resource for non-fiction writers, one for picture book attempters,  a practical book for any writer and (yes, there’s more) a set of brilliant middle grade novels by masters of the genre. And you thought this was going to be an ordinary day. Silly you!

Lean in and I’ll tell you how you can be a winner of the Spring Cleaning Giveaway: simply comment on this post and let me know which book (or books), you’d like to win. Then, I’ll draw names on Friday, April 17 at Noon. Easy sneezy.

Here’s what’s on the menu (and good luck deciding!) . . .

The Magazine Article: How to Think It, Plan It Write It by Peter Jacobi

This book was published in the late 1900s (makes it sounds really outdated, doesn’t it). What it lacks in advice about online research, it more than makes up for in how to add substance, depth and honesty to your work as a non-fiction writer. Plus, it’s Peter Jacobi. He’s amazing. If you ever get the chance to hear him speak, do. He’s a true orator. And can that guy write. Oh, my. Did I mention this book is signed? I almost hate to part with it.

Writing with Pictures: How to Write and Illustrate Children’s Books by Uri Shulevitz

This is a classic. If you write (or aim to write) picture books, you simply must have this book. It’s a treasure. And yes, I am willing to share it with you. Is that love or what?

Writer’s First Aid: Getting Organized, Getting Inspired and Sticking to It by Kristi Holl

I met Kristi ages ago at a Highlights Foundation workshop. This lady knows her stuff. While this little volume looks demure, it can be a real kick in the pants.

These fine middle grade novels, I’m offering as set. You can study them for craft, enjoy each as a fun, quick read and then share them with a child you love.

• A Series of Unfortunate Events, No. 2: The Reptile Room by Lemony Snicket
• Lost in Cyberspace by Richard Peck
• Hank Zipzer, The World’s Underachiever: Niagara Falls, or Does It? by Henry Winkler and Lin Oliver
• This Gum for Hire by Bruce Hale

Have you made up your mind? Don’t wait too long. Leave a comment by Noon on Friday and hopefully you’ll be a winner. Regardless, you are a fine person and there are plenty of kids who would be happy to sit by you at lunch. Remember, don’t slouch.

With freedom, books, flowers and the moon, who could not be happy? ~ Oscar Wilde

Giveaway goodies!

Congratulations to . . .

• Randy Bulla, winner of JAKE and LILY by Jerry Spinelli.
• Danielle Hammelef, winner of FLORA & ULYSSES by Kate DiCamillo.
• Erin Fanning, winner of EXTRA YARN by Marc Barnett, illustrated by Jon Klassen.

Winners, please contact me with your mailing address and let me know if you’d like to take me up on the free gift wrapping option.

Whether you decide to experience the joy of giving away your giveaway prize or cherishing it yourself (and who could blame you?), I hope this special treat adds fun to your holiday.

Many thanks to everyone who entered–and invited friends to follow Frog on a Dime. I understand a few squirrels may be added to the list (thank you, Randy!)

Wishing you all a lovely holiday season, filled with laughter, craziness (the jolly kind), moments for quiet reflection (and of course, reading) and much joy!

Oh, and cookies. Can’t forget those.

Merry Reading from Frog on a Dime!
Photo by Vicky Lorencen

Photo by Vicky Lorencen

One of the ways I “still” myself during the holiday season is to sit and sip tea while perusing my collection of favorite and familiar Christmas and wintry books. There’s something magically lulling about those beloved images and the lilting language. Looking at the covers, I can almost hear a cheery “welcome back” before I even turn the first page.

Knowing you love children’s book and might very well love to give a book to a child you love, Frog on a Dime is offering a very special holiday giveaway for you to giveaway!

There are three outstanding children’s books up for grabs . . .

Giveaway goodies!

JAKE and LILY by Jerry Spinelli

FLORA & ULYSSES by Kate DiCamillo

EXTRA YARN by Marc Barnett, illustrated by Jon Klassen

To enter:

Step 1: Invite a friend to follow Frog on a Dime.

Step 2: Leave a comment on this post to let me know which book you’d prefer (with a 2^nd choice, just in case) AND let me know that you’ve invited a friend. You don’t have to name names. We’ll be on the honor system. (Just remember, “he” knows if you’ve been bad or good, so be good for goodness sake.)

I will draw three names on Friday, December 12 at Noon. Each winner will receive a book—and I’ll even gift wrap it with my own little hands, if you like. Then I’ll send them off to the lucky winners spit-spot!

Enter today!

Happy, happy Christmas, that can win us back to the delusions of our childish days; that can recall to the old man the pleasures of his youth; that can transport the sailor and the traveller, thousands of miles away, back to his own fire-side and his quiet home! ~ Charles Dickens, The Pickwick Papers (1836)

Photo by Vicky Lorencen

At the close of the SCBWI – Michigan conference on Mackinac Island, book reviewer, blogger and first grade teacher extraordinaire Ed Spicer (I know cheers will erupt at the mention of his name!) shared about one of his students. Brycen struggled with reading. He simply could not decipher those black squiggles on the page. That is, until he found a book that unlocked the magic for him. The title of the book isn’t significant to Brycen’s story. It was well reviewed and nicely illustrated, but it was not a groundbreaker or a bestseller. That didn’t matter to Brycen. He simply loved that book, and it loved him back by patiently waiting for him to decode it word-by-word until he could read it with ease. By reading it over and over and over, that story gave him the confidence to select more titles.

He’s such a book lover now that, well, why don’t I let Brycen tell you . . .

Ed Spicer shared Brycen’s story to remind authors and would-be authors that our stories make a difference regardless of critical acclaim or popularity. We may never know how one of our stories set up camp in a child’s heart and made a forever home there. And that’s okay. We just need to make the best stories we know how and trust they’ll find the hearts that need them, hearts like Brycen’s.

Feeling small or discouraged today? Keep crafting your stories with love and care. Because you just never know.

There’s so much more to a book than just the reading. ~ Maurice Sendak

“Look! I’m carrying a kettle of scalding water.”

What’s with the face? You don’t like honesty? It’s not completely accurate to say I don’t like kids, because I do–on a child-by-child basis. But the species in general? Not so much.

And in case you’re wondering, yes I have two children of my own. Do I love them? With all my heart. Do I want to be surrounded by a battery of wee nose miners on a daily basis? Oh, my. NO.

I knew it. “The face” is back. You’re wondering why I want to write children’s books when I’m not a super fan of kids. Let me explain how I reconcile the apparent disconnect–at least as I understand so far.

Not too long ago I met Andrew Karre, the editorial director for Carolrhoda Books, at a retreat for children’s writers. He told us he believes children’s literature is about children, and not written for children. What’s the distinction? Motivation. Rather than being audience-centric and focusing on pleasing the reader, Karre suggests the drive to create children’s literature needs to focus inward. Intriguing perspective, isn’t it? I had to noodle over it for quite a while, but I think he’s right.

From the time I recognized myself as a writer an ice age ago, I knew I wanted to write children’s books. Isn’t that odd? So specific. So narrow. Children’s literature has an innate openness, optimism, humor, bravery and tenderness that makes it irresistible to me, as a reader and a writer. Those are the qualities I want funneling through my brain, my heart and my imagination. Writing about children allows me to experience that. I am so lucky. Knowing a child may enjoy what I love to write is a spectacular bonus.

What about you? Why does children’s literature call to you?

(And by the way, if you like kids, it’s okay. I still accept you.)

A children’s story that can only be enjoyed by children is not a good children’s story in the slightest.
~ C.S. Lewis

. The Adventures of Max, Book 1: Little Dude by Michelle Hennessy illustrations by Luke Harland 3 Stars . . From Press Release:  Max always dreamed of surfing.  Every day he’d go down to the beach and watch all of the other surfers riding the waves and having tons of fun.  The sun was going …

Book: Raising Bookworms: Getting Kids Reading for Pleasure and Empowerment
Author: Emma Walton Hamilton (blog)
Pages: 208
Age Range: Adult nonfiction

I recently read two books dedicated to helping parents to raise readers (see also my review of Book Love, by Melissa Taylor). The second of these was Raising Bookworms: Getting Kids Reading for Pleasure and Empowerment by Emma Walton Hamilton. Raising Bookworms is a call to arms, written by a parent, "professional educator, children's book author and editor", aimed at encouraging parents to raise book-loving children.

Hamilton starts with the bad news, results from studies that show a decline in reading in the US (including a host of depressing statistics, like "Forty-two percent of college graduates never read another book once they have graduated."). She admits that she isn't a trained reading specialist or educator, and she doesn't get into the mechanics of reading at all, but she proposes the same essential solution that Jim Trelease does, emphasis (by parents and teachers) on the link between reading and pleasure. She says "This book is about creating--or restoring--the connection between reading and joy." She starts with context, giving a history of reading, and then she proposes concrete methods for encouraging reading, aimed at each age group (from birth through early adolescence).

The chapters for the different age groups are designed to allow each to be read independently, as needed by the parent of that age child. I think that this will be quite helpful for parents looking to inspire a particular child. This structure does make it a bit tedious to read Raising Bookworms straight through, however, as many of the tactics that Hamilton proposes apply to multiple age levels. These are thus repeated throughout the book. She does separate the previous suggestions from the new ones each time, so that it's not difficult to skip the ones that one has already read, but there is certainly extra page-turning. [Mind you, I don't have a better solution for the problem of creating standalone chapters but having content that applies to each. It's just tough to read straight through.] Hamilton also includes tables "encompassing all the ideas and recommendations", and indicating which recommendations apply to which age group, in the appendix.

One thing that I really like about Raising Bookworms is that Hamilton includes short, blurbed lists of book suggestions within the chapters for each age range. While I found her lists to be a bit heavy on classics (or relatively light on contemporary fare - she has nowhere near the breadth of Melissa Taylor), I liked that she took the time to tell parents why they should consider a particular book. Hamilton is the daughter of Julie Andrews, and there are some plugs for Andrews' and Hamilton's own books. But it's still clear that Hamilton is a genuine advocate for reading books of all sorts.

Hamilton is also "a great believer in the synergies that exist between literacy and the arts--and the ways in which each can inform the other". In addition to encouraging literacy and reading, she includes a number of suggests related to encouraging the arts in general (attending and participating in plays, etc.). I haven't seen this covered in many other literacy books, and this adds a bit of a personal slant to Raising Bookworms. She's also quite open with discussing the reading experiences of her own children, and what worked during their evolution as readers.

Raising Readers is well-sourced. There are references throughout to literacy organizations, books about encouraging readers, and research studies. There is a bibliography at the end of the book, as well as a helpful index. There is a short section on blogs and other online resources for learning about books (A Fuse #8 Production and Cynsations are both mentioned). Published in 2008, Raising Readers doesn't cover the rise of eBook readers, but these online references give the book a reasonable balance between traditional and contemporary (though without the up-to-the-minute feel of Book Love).

Raising Readers has a bit of a philosophical feel to it. Though there are certainly specific tips and recommendations, Hamilton is sharing her views in a number of areas related to literacy. The fact that these views tended to coincide with mine made this a satisfying read for me. Like this:

"By employing the techniques outlined in the following pages with your children, you stand a good chance of helping them to discover the power and wonder inherent in books. You also stand to enrich your own relationship with them, and to help them achieve rewarding relationships with others. You may even experience a greater sense of personal fulfillment--and might just gain (or rekindle) a new appreciation for reading yourself.

... Ultimately, my dream is that we might reestablish a society of readers ... and by extension, a society of thoughtful, engaged citizens who play an active, positive role in their community and their world." (Page 5-6)

and this:

"I believe that the main reason we move away from reading as an elective activity is because of our conscious association, often unwittingly learned at school and reinforced at home, between reading and "chore." (Page 12)

and this:

"Nothing will teach children to love reading more than seeing the adults around them showing enthusiasm for it. In fact, according to a recent survey by Scholastic, parents who regularly read for pleasure are six times more likely to have kids who read for fun." (Page 17)

Raising Bookworms is also sprinkled with quotes from other reading advocates (Jim Trelease, Esme Raji Codell, Daniel Pennac, etc.). This gives Raising Bookworms the feel of building on the efforts of those others. Most of the tips that I found in Raising Bookworms weren't new to me (a compulsive reader of books on growing bookworms), but I found it a nice refresher, something to rejuvenate my determination to help my child to grow up to be a reader. 

[Note: later this week I will be sharing some thoughts on the Kindle format of this book and Book Love. I wish that I had purchased the paperback copy of Raising Bookworms instead, so that I could more easily refer back to Hamilton's age-specific tips.]

Publisher: Beech Tree Books
Publication Date: December 1, 2008
Source of Book: Bought it on Kindle, after Darshana mentioned it

© 2012 by Jennifer Robinson of Jen Robinson's Book Page. All rights reserved. This site is an Amazon affiliate, and purchases made through Amazon links may result in my receiving a small commission (at no additional cost to you). 

Book: Book Love: Help Your Child Grow from Reluctant to Enthusiastic Reader (Kindle edition)
Author: Melissa Taylor
Pages: n/a 
Age Range: Adult nonfiction

On a recent trip, I read two books aimed at helping parents to raise readers. The first was Book Love: Help Your Child Grow from Reluctant to Enthusiastic Reader by my blog/Twitter friend Melissa Taylor from Imagination Soup. Book Love is written from Melissa's perspective as an elementary school teacher and as a book-loving parent who found herself with two children who didn't enjoy reading. While there are certainly nuggets in the book that will apply to any parent of young children, Book Love is directed towards parents who have kids who, for one reason or another, don't enjoy reading. Taylor proposes four general reasons why kids dislike reading, and then explores them each in detail. The reasons are:

1. Too boring (because "either the reading level is too hard, or your child hasn't found the right book or subject that gets him hooked.")
2. Too blurry (because "vision, learning difficulties, and the ability (or inability) to pay attention" get in the way)
3. Too tricky (because reading is a hard thing to learn to do)
4. Too "sitty" (because some kids don't like to sit still and read)

Taylor starts with some brief, down to earth guidelines for "setting your child up for success as you help him learn to love reading". These include "Don't push him. Please", and a quick warning about limiting television.

The tone of Book Love is as if your child's very committed teacher sat down with you for coffee, and gave you one-on-one advice for helping your child with reading. There's a very personal, colloquial feel to the book, with plenty of short, declarative sentences ("Reading is important. Make time for it"). Here's an example:

"Engage in Grown-Up Reading

The apple doesn't fall far from the tree, right? Kids copy what we do.

Here's your change to read that book you've been wanting to read. So read a book. Or two. Or ten. Show your child how you choose your books. Talk about the ones you want to read. Demonstrate how you make time for reading, even a little bit, every day."

Book Love is highly approachable, and not at all intimidating. It's a relatively quick read, a plus for busy parents. There are user-friendly lists of questions to ask your child to help diagnose the above-described reasons for not liking reading. There are lists of the child's favorite interests for the parent to fill in (and book lists to support those interests). There are carefully chosen pictures throughout. There are less common tips, like this:

"skip buying a reading lamp. Buy a headlamp--the light is brighter and covers a wider area. Then kids can also read in the car at night (including during longer trips where it's tempting to let them overdose on video games or movies), in a tent or in a cabin at camp, or when staying over with friends of relatives."

There are bulleted lists, and references to the most cutting edge technology (eBook readers, etc.). There are steps listed for assessments that parents can perform to understand their own children's reading issues (and references to where to find help in advocating for the child). There are literacy-themed games and activities. Book Love has a lot of useful information in a contemporary and user-friendly package.

I do think that readers who have already read canons of the literacy field (such as The Read-Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease) may find Book Love a bit ... informal. There are relatively few references to other books or to research studies. There are a fair number of links to online material, but these tend to be somewhat casually sourced (e.g a reference to Betsy Bird's list of top 100 children's books that doesn't actually mention Betsy or her blog, A Fuse #8 Production, by name; there's a reference to Daniel Pennac's The Rights of the Reader poster, but one has to click through to see the list itself, etc.).

I think that this informality stems from a) the fact that Book Love is self-published (it's harder for an individual author to go through the hoops of requesting permission to just include things like The Rights of the Reader poster) and b) the fact that Book Love was inspired by a blog. Just linking to something, rather than including it, is common blog practice. And it works well. When people are reading online, it's easy enough to click through to the original source, and is actually courteous on the part of the referring author (since traffic is sent to the original source). However, when one is reading a book (particularly a print book, but even an eBook on a device), having to click through to see something is more disruptive. This may be an artifact of where we are in the evolution of books (20 years from now we may be reading everything online, and so used to cross-linking that one would barely notice). Book Love is clearly on the cutting edge, in the sense of being a book-formed offshoot of content developed on a blog.

But getting back to the book itself (rather than musing on the nature of books), Book Love contains lists and lists of book suggestions, and also suggestions for products to help with literacy learning. I can't speak for the content of the product lists (though I do very much like the idea of helping parents find phonics tools and the like with which to help struggling young readers). But I found the book lists to be quite comprehensive. Taylor is well in the loop and up on both current and classic literature. The lists aren't blurbed (books or products), however, so to find out whether or not a particular book or item might be interesting and relevant to your child's age, one must click through. The lack of blurbs for book lists is common, of course, and would be prohibitive in this case (since Taylor suggests so many book). But I personally find lists that also tell me something about the book to be a bit more useful (like the Cybils shortlists). Still, the range of suggested books (and the many themes for the lists) is quite impressive.

The nicest thing about Book Love, I think, is that it is directly aimed at parents of children who are struggling with reading in one way or another (or disinterested in reading). For such parents, Book Love offers a real (and non-judgmental) lifeline. The tips for what to do are clear, concrete, and contemporary. There are tons of ideas, book suggestions, and product recommendations. Readers who like concise, practical advice, as from magazine articles and blog posts, will appreciate Book Love's format and tone. It's definitely a new era book, though, with a different feel from that of books by Jim Trelease and Mem Fox. Readers who expect a lot of references and research studies, and don't want to be clicking back and forth to the web when they read, may not find Book Love a good fit. But that's ok. As Taylor indicates herself in Book Love, the trick is finding the right book for the right reader at the right time. That goes for books about growing bookworms, too. Later, I'll have a review of a book that takes a more traditional approach.

Publisher: Imagination Soup, LLC (@ImaginationSoup)
Publication Date: November 5, 2012
Source of Book: Review copy from the publisher

© 2012 by Jennifer Robinson of Jen Robinson's Book Page. All rights reserved. This site is an Amazon affiliate, and purchases made through Amazon links may result in my receiving a small commission (at no additional cost to you). 

On a recent trip, I read several adult nonfiction titles on my new Kindle Paperwhite, including Book Love by Melissa Taylor and Raising Bookworms by Emma Walton Hamilton (reviews to come). While I adore the Kindle for travel, particularly the backlit Paperwhite version, I have concluded that, as the technology exists today, I don't love using the Kindle to read non-fiction.

First of all, while it's easy to highlight passages, I find it cumbersome to go back and review the highlights. They are in a separate document, and while it's easy enough to skim through all of the highlighted text, it's awkward to go back and see the whole page from which the highlight was pulled. There's no easy way to see at a glance how many highlights there are (as with a "porcupine book" like The Book Whisperer that I have littered with post-it flags). This makes it much harder to review the book (this also holds for me when reviewing fiction).

A bigger part of this highlighting issue, and the one that applies more directly to nonfiction for me, is that I think the digital format will make me less likely in the future to refer back to the book (vs. if I had a printed copy on my shelf, post-its still intact). For fiction this is not such a big deal. I'm much more likely later in life to go back to find, say, a reading tip, than to find a particular passage out of the latest Lee Child novel. It would be easier if the highlights document (called Clippings on the Kindle) could hyperlink back to the original document (or be part of the original document). But even that would be more awkward than just flipping back through post-it flags in a printed book. This may change in the future, of course, as eBook readers improve, and other eBook readers may do a better job of this. But it will still be hard to improve upon the convenience of just taking the book down from the shelf.  

Another issue for me right now is that while narrative fiction tends to do fine on the Kindle, formatting issues make some nonfiction harder to read. In the case of Raising Bookworms, Hamilton sprinkles the book with quotes about the joys of reading. I presume that in the printed book, these are set off from the text in some way. But in the eBook version, they just appear within the text. In italic font, sure. I can tell what's happening. But they interrupt the flow of the text more, somehow. In Book Love, placement of images caused gaps in the text (since the images often needed to appear on a fresh page).

This is not to say that I think either author/publisher should have done a better job with the translation. More that there's an inherent issue with eBooks, the loss of the fixed formatting of the printed books, which I find more distracting when reading (some) nonfiction than when reading fiction. This was less of an issue for me when reading SuperFreakonomics, which is more narrative in form. I know that there are other formats, like PDF, which make this less of a problem - but I love the portability of the Kindle, so I'm a bit stuck. 

In light of these issues, I believe that, at least for now, when I am reading nonfiction, particularly nonfiction that I expect to review and/or refer back to, I will be more likely to go ahead and purchase the print copy, rather than take the slightly easier (immediate download, no books to pack up), lighter, and (usually) cheaper solution of buying a Kindle book. For fiction, particularly fiction that I wouldn't expect to re-read or review (such as mysteries published for adults), Kindle will continue to be the winner for me for travel (I wish my library had more books available for Kindle, but that's a topic for another day).

This post © 2012 by Jennifer Robinson of Jen Robinson's Book Page. All rights reserved.

Book: Return of the Library Dragon
Author: Carmen Agra Deedy
Illustrator: Michael P. White
Pages: 32
Age Range: 4-8 

Return of the Library Dragon is the sequel to Carmen Agra Deedy and Michael P. White's The Library Dragon. I somehow missed the first book, but I enjoyed this second one. The premise is that Miss Lotty, long-time librarian of Sunrise Elementary, is part dragon. Most of the time she looks pretty normal (except for a green tail that sticks out the back of her dress). But when she gets riled up ... watch out! Return of the Library Dragon begins as Miss Lotty has decided to retire. But when the school immediately makes plans to replace all of the books in the library with technology, the fire-breathing dragon returns.

Return of the Library Dragon is an homage to librarians from start to finish. The book opens with an article from School Library Times about the retiring Miss Lotty. Here's a snippet:

"Students had hoped that she would shelve plans for retirement, but Miss Lotty says her departure is long overdue... When asked to recall her fondest memory as a librarian, she replied, Dewey-eyed..."

When the story itself begins, we find Miss Lotty in bed, "counting children's books instead of sheep." Miss Lotty's nemesis in the book, the man who takes all of the books out of the library as soon as her back is turned, is named Mike Krochip. C'mon, you want to laugh. I know you do.

Return of the Library Dragon is a staunch and unabashed defense of books. Real, printed books. When Mike Krochip suggests than an all-digital library with 10,000 books would be better than their library of books that "stain and tear and take up room", the children offer up a variety of reasons why they prefer real books. But when the children's heads are turned by the coolness of Krochip's technology, the Library Dragon takes a stand.

I love the end pages of this book, which are papered with quotes about books, reading, and librarians. Like "To me, nothing can be more important than giving children books" -- Fran Lebowitz. I almost didn't want to turn past the end pages to even read the book. But I'm glad that I did.

Return of the Library Dragon is a picture book for early school age kids, with plenty of text on each page, and a fairly advanced vocabulary ("stampeding", "wisp", "gloat"). The text is mainly dialog, with short, declarative sentences, and an endless array of puns. 

White's illustrations are airbrush on cotton watercolor paper. They aren't strictly realistic (there being a dragon and all). The characters have oddly elongated faces and wavy, wrinkled outlines. But something in White's use of color and shadow makes the characters step, three-dimensional, from the page. The humor continues in the titles of the books shown throughout the text, from "Where the Wild Pigs Are" to "Furious George".

While Return of the Library Dragon certainly has a message to convey, Deedy's story transcends the message, and offers a fun-filled romp for young readers. White's lively illustrations add to the entertainment, and make Return of the Library Dragon a keeper (and a must for school library purchase). This would probably also make a good read-aloud for a first or second grade classroom. (Has anyone tried it?) Recommended.

Publisher: Peachtree (@PeachtreePub)
Publication Date: September 1, 2012
Source of Book: Review copy from the publisher

© 2012 by Jennifer Robinson of Jen Robinson's Book Page. All rights reserved. This site is an Amazon affiliate, and purchases made through Amazon links may result in my receiving a small commission (at no additional cost to you).

This is a post that I originally published at Booklights on Memorial Day in 2009. Since then, I've had many changes in my life (had a baby, bought a new house, stopped writing for Booklights). But I've never wavered in my affection for reading out of doors in beautiful locations. In fact, I recently took a two-day reading retreat for myself. I stayed at a hotel in Half Moon Bay, and spent pretty much all of my daylight hours sitting on the balcony reading, looking up at the ocean from time to time (photo to the left).

So I'd like to launch Memorial Day Weekend 2011 with a reissue of the original post.

Outdoor Reading

Happy Memorial Day! In honor of the holiday that marks (in the US, anyway) the start of summer, I'd like to talk about outdoor reading. I was inspired in this by a recent post at Australian blog The Book Chook. Blogger/reading advocate Susan Stephenson (one of the organizers of the Share a Story - Shape a Future literacy blog tour from earlier this year) shared several of her favorite childhood reading spots (including "halfway up our huge jacaranda tree"). She closed by asked her readers "Where do you read?".

Part of my response (in the comments) was: "when I was a kid I read in the car (for even the shortest of drives), up in a tree in my yard, on the roof of our house (love those dormer windows), and on a raft in the lake (you have to swim with one arm holding the book up, it's a bit awkward, but worth it)." I SO wish I had photos, especially of the skinny little kid swimming out to a raft, holding a book up in the air.

What the most memorable of my childhood reading spots have in common, I realize now, is that they are all out of doors. It's been quite a while since I climbed up into a tree to read. But reading out of doors, particularly in some scenic location, remains one of my greatest joys. I'll go a step further, and say that it's how I recharge, how I heal myself, how I do what I love while remaining connected to the world. (Image credit: photo by taliesin, made available for use at MorgueFile.)

One of the best days that I have ever spent was during a vacation to Bar Harbor, Maine not long after college. We stayed at a tiny hotel with individual cabins, right on the ocean. After several days of hiking together, I sent my boyfriend off on his own one day to tackle another mountain. I spent the entire day on a chaise lounge on a little peninsula jutting out into the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by water and trees, reading. Even now, when things are stressful, I travel back in my head to that oasis of a day. It continues to make me happy. And it's perhaps not a coincidence that on the day, quite a few years later, that the same boyfriend asked me to marry him, he left me sitting on a deck facing the Pacific Ocean, reading, while he was off making preparations.

Something about the outdoor reading actually sharpens my memories of my surroundings. I can still remember what beverages I

This post was originally published at Booklights on November 2, 2009. It was the first of a 10-post series on Tips for Growing Bookworms. Each of the Booklights posts was actually an extended discussion of a tip originally proposed here, at Jen Robinson's Book Page. Thus I am especially happy to be bringing these detailed tips home by republishing them here.

Tips for Growing Bookworms: #1 Read Aloud

Back in 2007 I wrote a post on my own blog called 10 Tips for Growing Bookworms. This has remained a popular post, and people have suggested several other tips in the comments there. I've decided to expand upon each of these tips, and create a new Tips for Growing Bookworms series here at Booklights. Of course other Booklights contributors talk about tips for encouraging young readers here, too, as in Terry's Bedtime from Afar post from last week. But I say, we can't focus on this important topic too much. So, without further ado:

Tip #1: Read aloud to your children from (or even before) birth, as often as possible, and keep reading aloud to them even after they can read on their own. Reading aloud has been shown to have a huge impact in raising readers, and is the number one thing that parents and other concerned adults can do to help grow bookworms. By reading to kids in a comfortable, safe environment, you help them to think of reading as a pleasurable activity. You also increase their vocabularies and attention spans, and show them that you think that books are important. And with all of the many wonderful books out there, reading together should be enjoyable for you and the kids.

It's especially helpful when Dads or other male caregivers can participate in at least some of the read aloud activity. This shows boys that reading isn't just something that girls do, but rather something that's fun for everyone. A recent survey by UK charity Booktrust found that "some 67% of mothers of four to five-year-olds claim to be the principal reader, compared with 17% of fathers, although many more fathers were said to be reading than in last year's survey." The Booktrust study (as reported by BBC News) found that 96% of children surveyed reported enjoying reading, but also reported that only one in three families read with their children every day. I would personally love to see that last statistic increase.

It is, of course, tempting to think that once your child can read on his or her own, you can stop reading aloud. However, if you can find the time and the motivation to continue reading aloud with your older children, your whole

This post was originally published at Booklights on October 19, 2009.

Five Favorite Fictional Houses from Children's Literature

Lots of people responded positively to my recent post about favorite fictional towns from children's literature [here I'm referring to people who responded to the original Booklights post]. A number of people commented and Twittered to share their favorites. Carol Rasco (from RIF) mentioned Misselthwaite Manor from The Secret Garden. And I thought "great suggestion, that's one of my favorite houses from children's literature." And that, naturally enough, led me to thinking about my other favorite fictional houses. In the interest of fairness (or at least of not being overly repetitive), I've excluded any authors who I previous mentioned in my favorite fictional towns or favorite fictional rooms posts. And yes, that excludes Hogwarts, because I've already mentioned Hogsmeade, and Green Gables, because I've already mentioned Avonlea, and the many great houses created by Elizabeth Enright and Zilpha Keatley Snyder. There are still lots of wonderful houses to choose from. In each case, I've decided to let the author describe the house in question. After all, they can do this far better than I could.

1. Misselthwaite Manor from The Secret Garden (with thanks to Carol Rasco) by Frances Hodgson Burnett.

"Not but that it's a grand big place in a gloomy way, and Mr. Craven's proud of it in his way--and that gloomy enough, too. The house is six hundred years old and it's on the edge of the moor, and there's near a hundred rooms in it, though most of them's shut up and locked. And there's pictures and fine old furniture and things that's been there for ages, and there's a big park round it and gardens and tree with branches trailing to the ground--some of them." (Chapter 2, Mistress Mary Quite Contrary, description by Mrs. Medlock)

2. The Hall family's house in Concord, MA from Jane Langton's The Diamond in the Window (reviewed here).

"All of the other houses on the street were neat square white buildings with dark shutters and simple pitched roofs. Out from among them mushroomed the Halls' house like an exotic tropical plant in a field of New England daisies. It was a great wooden Gothic Byzantine structure, truly in need of painting. Big as it was, it looked airy and light, as though the wind might pick it up and carry it away. Screened porches ballooned and billowed out of it all around, and domes and towers puffer up at the top as though they were filled with air." (Chapter Two, The Hidden Chamber)

3. Bag End, Bilbo's house (later Frodo's house) from The Hobbit and