November 2005

Dear Fellow Book Lovers:

CHILDREN'S BOOK WEEK: IMAGINE

Children’s Book Week is a favorite time of year for schools and libraries. Though books and reading are celebrated everyday, this special week is a time to sponsor special programs that bring children and books together. There is no limit to the kinds of programs that can be developed around this year’s theme Imagine.

Ask children to Imagine Another Culture and introduce books like Cleversticks by Bernard Ashley (Ages 4-8), Hairs/Pelitos by Sandra Cisneros (Ages 4-8), and Finding Our Way by Rene Saldana, Jr. (Ages 12-up).  

Imagine Another Time and focus on books like A Single Shard by Linda Sue Park (Ages 9-12), Song and Dance Man by Karen Ackerman and Illustrated by Stephen Gammell (Ages 4-8), The Quilt by Gary Paulsen (Ages 8-12), The King of Mulberry Street by Donna Jo Napoli (Ages 8-12), Toliver’s Secret by Esther Wood Brady and Illustrated by Richard Cuffari (Ages 8-12), and The Sign of the Beaver by Elizabeth George Speare.  

Imagine Another World and read The Various by Steve Augarde (Ages 10 up), Akiko and the Journey to Toog by Mark Crilley (Ages 8 up), The Giver by Lois Lowry (Ages 12 up), and The Time Quartet by Madeleine L’Engle (Ages 10 up).  

Imagine Another Person and learn about Diego Rivera by reading Diego by Johah Winter and Illustrated by Jeanette Winter (Ages 4-8), Anne Frank by Josephine Poole and illustrated by Angela Barrett (Ages 10 up), and Chewing the Cud, the autobiography of favorite writer Dick King-Smith (Ages 10 up).

Ask young readers to Imagine a world without libraries, a world without books. Have them read NightJohn and Sarny by Gary Paulsen. Invite older children to engage in a book discussion about the importance of literacy, and the role they can play in helping others learn to read.

Sponsor a parent and child book week party, and ask each person to dress as their favorite book character.   Imagine the character in the library. What would they most like to read? For example: What book would Harriet from Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh (Ages 8-12) most like to read? What about Cassie from Faith Ringgold’s Tar Beach (Ages 4-8)? How about Roy Eberhardt in Hoot by Carl Hiaasen (Ages 10 up)? Imagine what Clay Garrity from Paula Fox’s Monkey Island, or 12-year-old Larkin in Baby by Patricia Maclachlan might select to read.

Finally, ask the library staff to construct a hat that symbolizes their favorite book character. Ask young readers to use their imagination and determine which character each hat represents.

Imagine a week, a month, a year, and a lifetime with books.

You may email me at pscales@scgsah.state.sc.us.