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January 2005
Dear
Fellow Book Lovers:
PROMISES
AND NEW BEGINNINGS
January represents
promises and new beginnings. Some people make promises for
the year that range from dieting and exercise to making more
time for family. These resolutions are often broken by February.
The New Year is a good time for libraries to encourage resolutions
that involve reading.
Sponsor a Reading
Resolution program and ask patrons to set reading
goals for the year. Resolutions should always be very individual,
but encourage readers to explore new genres rather than concentrating
on numbers of books to read. For example, students who love
fantasy may want to begin the year reading Midnight
over Sanctaphrax (The Edges Chronicles) by Paul Stewart
and Chris Riddell (ages 10-12), but then make a resolution
to try historical fiction like The
President’s Daughter by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley (ages
8-12), or To
The Edge of the World by Michele Torrey (ages 12 up).
There are always a number of readers who love humorous realistic
fiction like With
Love from Spain, Melanie Martin by Carol Weston (ages
8-12), Lucy
Rose: Here’s the Thing about Me by Katy Kelly and illustrated
by Adam Rex (ages 8-12), Molly
McGinty Has a Really Good Day by Gary Paulsen (ages 8-12)
and Bucking
the Sarge by Christopher Paul Curtis (ages 12 up). They
may promise to try novels with more serious themes –books
that up until now they have been unwilling to try. Such books
may include A
Piece of Heaven by Sharon Dennis Wyeth (ages 10-13), Grass
Angel by Julie Schumacher (ages 10-14), and Finding
Miracles by Julia Alvarez (ages 12 up). One genre that
is often ignored until needed for school research is nonfiction.
Ask young readers to make a resolution to include nonfiction
in their year’s pleasure reading. Introduce them to Skyscraper
by Susan E. Goodman with photography by Michael J. Doolittle
(ages 6-10), Amelia
Earhart by John Parlin (ages 7-11), Andy
Warhol: Prince of Pop by Jan Greenberg and Sandra Jordan
(ages 12 up), and To
Establish Justice: Citizenship and the Constitution by
Patricia McKissack and Arlene Zarembka (ages 14-16). Students
may want to keep a reading journal, and share their monthly
progress with a group of readers in their age group. Librarians
should also make reading resolutions that include getting
to know new books, and introducing these new books to readers.
Here are a few of my suggestions from Random House:
Another program idea
is to introduce the year by book-talking books about main
characters that experience “new beginnings.” These may include
titles like First
to Fly by Peter Busby (ages 8 up), The
Farthest-Away Mountain by Lynne Reid Banks (ages 9-12),
Song
of Sampo Lake by William Durbin (ages 10 up), Charlotte’s
Rose by A.E. Cannon (ages 8-12), Pictures
of Hollis Woods by Patricia Reilly Giff (ages 8-13), and
Ashes
of Roses by Mary Jane Auch (ages 12 up). Sponsor a panel
discussion that addresses the following questions:
- What does the term “new beginnings” mean?
- Why is it appropriate that such books be introduced and
read at the beginning of the New Year?
- How do the main characters learn from their new experiences?
- What can readers learn from these main characters about
trying new things?
You may email me
at pscales@scgsah.state.sc.us.
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