| May
2005
Dear
Fellow Book Lovers:
GROWING,
GROWING, GONE
Since
the month of May is named for Maia, the Goddess of Growth,
it seems fitting that libraries celebrate this fifth month
by introducing children and young adults to books that help
them grow. There is certainly a good argument that most books
help us grow in one way or another, but some books play a
more dominant role in the growth process than others.
A
good way to begin is by sponsoring a special night for parents,
and encouraging them to make books a part of their children’s
growing up years. For parents of preschoolers, introduce them
to Ready,
Set, Preschool by Anna Jane Hays and illustrated by True
Kelley (coming July 2005). This book of stories, poems, and
picture games includes an educational guide for parents, and
is a perfect way to get them involved with the idea of growing
with story.
First
Meeting With Parents
- Ask each parent to share a favorite book
from their childhood and encourage them to tell why they
think the book was so special to them. Perhaps it’s a Mother
Goose book, a fairy tale, a rhyming book like Dr. Seuss,
or a longer story read aloud to them by a parent or grandparent.
- Have parents bring a current picture
of each of their children. Ask them to share each child’s
favorite book, and tell what about the book is appealing
to their child. Don’t be surprised if a child’s favorite
is one that a parent loved as a child, like The
Poky Little Puppy.
- Introduce parents to books appropriate
for each age, from birth to the teenage years. Then ask
them to create a Grow Chart for each child in the family
and begin to record favorite books by year. Children will
want to record their own favorites as they become old enough
to write. They may even want to decorate their Grow Chart.
Some books from Random House that may be on a child’s Grow
Chart include:
WATCH
ME GROW THROUGH BOOKS
Age
1 Dan
Yaccarino’s Mother Goose by Dan Yaccarino
Age
2 The
Rooster Struts by Richard Scarry
Age
3 Mother,
Mother, I Want Another by Maria Polushkin Robbins; illustrated
by Jon Goodell
Age
4 The
Giant Hug by Sandra Horning; illustrated by Valeri Gorbachev
Age
5 The
Adventures of Patty and the Big Red Bus by Meghan McGarthy
Fish
Is Fish by Leo Lionni
Age
6 Junie
B., First Grader (at last!) by Barbara Park; illustrated
by Denise Brunkus
Age
7 Good
Dog by Maya Gottried; illustrated by Robert Rahway Zakanitch
Age
8 The
Castle in The Attic by Elizabeth Winthrop
My
Big Sister is So Bossy She Says You Can’t Read This Book
by Mary Hershey
Age
9 How
to Eat Fried Worms by Thomas Rockwell
Harriet
the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh
Age
10 Rodzina
by Karen Cushman
Bud,
Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis
Age
11 Storm
Warriors by Elisa Carbone
Age
12 Girls
in Pants: The Third Summer of the Sisterhood by Ann
Brashares
The
Illustrated Mum by Jacqueline Wilson
Age
13 I
Am The Wallpaper by Mark Peter Hughes
Age
14 The
Chocolate War by Robert Cormier
Readers
who feel that they are too grown to record books on a chart
may want to engage in a book discussion group that focuses
on novels where the main character displays a great deal of
growth. Explain that growth, in this case, might mean coming
of age. For example, discuss how the following characters
grow: Stanley Yelnats in Holes
by Louis Sachar; Luther in Bucking
the Sarge by Christopher Paul Curtis; Toby Wilson in When
Zachary Beaver Came to Town by Kimberly Willis Holt; Larkin
in Baby
by Patricia MacLachlan; and Denny in Robert Cormier’s In
the Middle of the Night.
Young
readers, as well as older readers may wish to create a memory
book page called “Here I Grow” that expresses their love for
books. Encourage them to make reference to specific titles.
These memory book pages will not only be special to the reader,
but may be helpful as a family makes reading choices for younger
children growing into books.
You may email me
at pscales@scgsah.state.sc.us.
|
