Here's a distraction: Share your kids' favorite books

Posted by Philissa at 10:00 AM

Earlier this week, Helen posted about "Chancellor Klein's no good, very bad morning." One commenter immediately noted the allusion to the classic children's book "Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day," by Judith Viorst, saying that she reads the book to her own son Alexander when he's feeling grumpy. Recently, the Times' City Room blog ran a long post about the best kids' books that use New York City as a backdrop, such as "Eloise," "Harriet the Spy," and "The Cricket in Times Square." Readers weighed in with their own suggestions and sent me, at least, running to the library.

As we all work on our summer reading lists, help fellow Insideschools Blog readers out: What books do your kids most enjoy?

Queens school trashes crisp new books

Posted by Philissa at 7:42 AM

Maybe administrators didn't get the memo about there not being any money to buy new books. Or maybe kids these days don't want to read young adult classics like Kidnapped or Sarah, Plain and Tall. Or perhaps the bureaucracy involved in selling unused books back to the DOE is too onerous for overtaxed school officials to tackle. But whatever reason officials at IS 73 in Queens had for tossing new books into a dumpster, I can't imagine it's very good.

Read The Story of Ferdinand today to help kids

Posted by Philissa at 7:59 AM

If you've never read the famous children's book The Story of Ferdinand, today's a good day to do so. That's the featured book this year for Read for the Record, a national event designed to bring attention to Jumpstart, an organization that promotes early childhood education for low-income kids. Readings are taking place all day in various locations throughout the city; for details on locations in Manhattan and Brooklyn, check out the event's website.

Influential children's book author dies

Posted by Philissa at 4:43 PM

Sad news today that Madeleine L'Engle, author of many novels including the classic A Wrinkle in Time, has died. In the age of Harry Potter, do kids still read L'Engle? They should. Her characters are inspirational, especially for girls, and no less magical than Harry and his friends. A Wrinkle in Time came out in 1962 and it was one of the first books I read that my mom read when she was my age. Kids can't say that about Harry Potter yet.

Junie B. Jones: the funnest book or not worth a laugh?

Posted by Philissa at 6:32 AM

Yesterday, the Times profiled the debate among parents over the popular children's series Junie B. Jones. Some parents like the 27-book series about a spunky little girl because their reading-resistant kids do, but others ban the books in their homes because the main character uses incorrect grammar. The Times bills this debate as a pedagogical difference, a "pint-size version of the lingering education battle between advocates of phonics, who believe children should be taught proper spelling and grammar from the outset, and those who favor whole language, a literacy method that accepts misspellings and other errors as long as children are engaged in reading and writing."

But I think the Times might be looking at the wrong culture clash. Instead, I see the books' publisher's response to a complaining parent as neatly summing up the debate; Random House said that "books for children don’t always have to be educational to be valuable."

At schools I've visited, I've met struggling readers who love Junie B. — they may even identify with her own language struggles, although as scholars point out, her "mistakes" actually correct irregularities in English. But they might just enjoy reading a book that's fun. Kids spend a great deal of time on cut-and-dry, grammatically correct stories that resemble those they'll see on standardized tests, and the high stakes of that literary form can't do much to facilitate a love for reading. Kids deserve to cut loose every once in a while, as adults do, with some light reading. And with the rise of what teacher Barbara Feinberg calls "problem literature" — books about kids confronting very adult misfortunes — there's value in just reminding kids that stories can make them laugh.

In the article, a sensible parent says she likes reading the books with her son, who enjoys them. "Sure, maybe Junie B. isn’t everyone’s cup of tea," she said. "But when she does things wrong or says things incorrectly, it provides an opportunity to talk about how things should be." Like all children's books, the Junie B. Jones books aren't meant to stand in for good teachers. But if parents are going to join schools in sucking the fun out of learning, then the books might have to stand in for them.

Kids kicking and screaming over summer reading?

Posted by Emily at 1:20 PM

Fear no more. There are few excuses to keep teens’ noses out of the books this summer, thanks to the many free resources and programs provided at the increasingly popular teens-only space, appropriately dubbed Teen Central, at Donnell Public Library in midtown Manhattan (Map).

To keep the reading momentum up and running once the final school bell sounds for summer, Teen Central keeps its doors open seven days a week for kids between the ages of 12 and 19. Offering the hottest new titles in Young Adult literature (think travel series and graphic novels), CD’s, DVD’s, video games, and free internet access, Teen Central serves as an oasis of stimulating and educational books and other media.

And just to make sure teens don’t get bored of all those free books and music, the staff at Donnell’s Teen Central has also put together an itinerary of events and competitions for its ever-active clientèle. Teens compete with blenders during “Iron Chef” days and with video game controllers on “Game On” days. They can channel even more creative energy at craft workshops.

Wise teachers and parents know well the importance of summer reading lists to keep kids’ restless minds (and bodies) occupied. Yet new research shows just how much of an impact that summer reading has. As EdWeek reported this week on a recent Baltimore study, gaps in student achievement might very well be linked to the amount of reading done (or lack thereof) during those precious months outside school walls.

Check Teen Central’s calendar for a complete schedule of hours and programs going on this summer. Then check back in soon to see what the library has in store for the fast-approaching back-to-school days.

Summer reading lists

Posted by Insideschools Staff at 11:48 AM

For summer reading lists and activities, parents and kids can log on to public library websites that offer booklists for all ages, from babies to teens. The sites feature an interactive “detective’ game that builds kids’ research skills and timely notices of book talks and other local library events. The New York State site, http://www.summerreadingnys.org/, includes information and ideas for parents and the New York City site has links to the New York, Brooklyn and Queens library systems, http://www.summerreading.org/.

Summer reading

Posted by Philissa at 10:14 AM

Last week the Times ran a humorous piece about the books that schools assign as summer reading. The author, essayist Joe Queenan, thinks most books students are assigned are kitschy and insubstantial or ponderous and boring, and he's skeptical that any of them help instill a love of reading in young people.

He writes:

Forty years after being pistol-whipped by Thomas Hardy, I am amazed that the summer reading list continues to exist. In a society that has dispensed with every other laudable cultural more, it bewilders me that students still allow adults to wreck their summer vacations by forcing them to feast on the passé cheekiness of “The Catcher in the Rye” or on mind-numbing kitsch like “The Alchemist.” I’m not saying it is necessarily a bad thing that schools require students to read books during the summer: culture, like vitamins, works best when imposed rather than selected. I am simply recording my amazement that in an age when urban high schools use weapons detectors to check for handguns, educators still make kids read “The Red Badge of Courage.”

Many high schools in the city require summer reading, and we've noticed mostly quality literature on reading lists. Unlike Queenan, we think kids can really benefit from reading "The Catcher in the Rye" and "To Kill a Mockingbird" (another object of his scorn). Of course, if kids don't complete their assigned reading, it doesn't really matter what is assigned.

What has been your family's experience with summer reading? Have your kids had to do it? How much teeth-pulling did it take to get the pages read -- or did the books sit around unopened all summer?