This Friday, Jan. 25, is Multicultural Children’s Book Day, a book-reading and book-discussing celebration intended to contribute to children’s understandings of their own cultures and the appreciation of others’ cultures. Perhaps you heard about this special day in the media. It is more likely, however, that you read or saw video of an incident in Washington, D.C., involving some high […]
Good readers don’t necessarily think about wanting to read better, they typically just want more time to read. Struggling readers certainly don’t want to spend any more time reading, they just want to read better–or not at all. Hmmm….but what if struggling readers DID want to spend more time reading? Researchers uniformly predict their reading […]
One of the joys of parenting is reading with our kids, beginning when they are infants. There is nothing like snuggling up with a pile of simple books with our little ones on our laps. Soon, we invite toddlers to select the books. Later, we invite them to read along. But unfortunately, not all parents […]
For bilingual children in the U.S., having just a sufficient grasp of the English language to succeed in school doesn’t work well the rest of the time. These children often can only fully communicate their wants, needs and values when they are at home speaking their native tongue. This is not okay for a country of immigrants and […]
To sacrifice is to give up forever something we would prefer to keep. Sacrifices are made to obtain something of value, a personally irreplaceable loss of time, opportunity or possessions, given up usually for others. All families make sacrifices to get what they want for their children. After all, what sacrifice is too great to make […]
By Mike McGuffee My mother always had a garden. To be precise, she had lots of gardens. Our yard was dotted with plants that were given the prospect of a good life from my mother’s hands. Through the backyard of my childhood, I grew alongside Black Diamond Watermelons and Paper Shell Pecan Trees. I believe […]
I have a sweet tooth. There’s no denying it. And to my chagrin, my eternally slender wife outlaws anything coming through the front door that would make my mouth water like virtually any and all sweets do. However, it is a given that when we are out of the house for a meal that I am allowed (if […]
In last week’s blog I had mentioned that … …the American Library Association (ALA) and its state and local affiliates are additional places to which to turn for guidance on helping damaged libraries as they struggle back to something near prominence in the role they play in people’s lives. In response, Karen Muller, ALA’s director of library and knowledge […]
When I was first a professor I was in a cubicle in the basement of a 200-year-old building of an even older university. Charming, right? In my second year, the university began to build a new library next door. For weeks there were pulses of concentric waves in my water glass, caused by the pounding of […]
My wife and I read to each other when we take trips in the car. We’ve read all of the Harry Potter books and numerous novels. This last weekend, on a trip to Chicago, we read Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul* by Stuart Brown, M.D. This very readable book […]
