"So please, oh please, we beg, we pray. Go throw your TV set away! And in its place, you can install, a lovely bookshelf on the wall." - Roald Dahl, Charlie, and the Chocolate Factory
The Youthful Librarian
“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more you learn, the more places you’ll go.”— Dr. Seuss
Online Resources
Beyond the Book: Encouraging Emerging Readers, published in Children and Libraries: The Journal of ALSC
Kozikowski, M., & Williams, K. (2020). Beyond the Book: Encouraging Emerging Readers. Children and Libraries, 18(2), 34–36. https://doi.org/10.5860/cal.18.2.34.
This journal article reveals information regarding reluctant and emerging readers and how to encourage their love of reading and their reading development. Written by two authors with expertise in librarianship and reader development, this journal article provides reading guide information for challenging readers, grade levels, and reluctant readers. The article includes suggestions such as a circulation kit that allows reading practices at home, incorporating reading projects, teaming up with other library programs, and incorporating other cognitive development with reading, such as shape, color, number, and letter recognition.
Laying a Foundation for Reading Joy, published in School Library Journal
Miller, D. (2020). Laying a Foundation for Reading Joy. School Library Journal.
This article starts with personal anecdotes about family children and their love of reading. The anecdotes provide a level of realism that is easy to relate to and can make someone question the access to books their own young readers may have. As Miller shares her granddaughters’ reading choices, she also explores the ideas that will help develop young readers in proficiency, identity, and application. Miller says it comes down to time, access, choice, and community. Allowing for time spent reading and discovering new books, providing access to an abundance of various reading texts, allowing young readers the choice in their reading, and finding ways to incorporate the community.
Millennials Are Social Readers, published in Library Journal
Witteveen, A. (2019, July). Millennials Are Social Readers: Generational Reading Survey. Library Journal.
This article reveals the type of readers of the generation known as millennials. Young readers are often thought of as children, but teens, adolescents, and young adults are also considered early readers as some may just be discovering or rediscovering a love of reading. Millennials absorb information through social means and social media platforms, such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and more. This means that they are reading more often and at a faster rate than many generations before them, but the content they are absorbing is not always in book format. As technology influences readers, millennial behavior shows their reading habits to be avid. A closer look will help librarians and educators gain a better understanding of how to appeal to literary reading to younger generations.
Goodreads, Website
Goodreads Editorial Staff. (2020). Meet your next favorite book. Goodreads. https://www.goodreads.com/.
Goodreads is an online website and application that can be utilized to discover new and existing books. Users can create reading goals and keep track of books they have read and books they want to read. They can also search for books based on topic, genre, authors, and more and even find lists of read-alike book suggestions based on their own reading library. Goodreads is free to use and allows readers to enjoy a community of other readers by adding friends, reading reviews and interviews, and sharing their opinions on books.
Common Sense, Website
Common Sense Editors. (2020). Reviews for what your kids want to watch (before they watch it): Common Sense Media. Common Sense Media: Ratings, reviews, and advice. https://www.commonsensemedia.org/.
Common Sense is a free to use website that offers insight into specific materials, including books. There are reviews on each work from parents, educators and teachers, and children. These various reviews allow for a much broader look at the published work and users can gain an understanding of what elements appeal to each perspective of reader. It also includes discussion questions and reading guides for books that allow for more positive reading engagement and interaction.
Best Robot Ever
Best Robot Ever Editors . (2020). Gen Z Shows. PRX. https://www.prx.org/gen- z?gclid=Cj0KCQiAwMP9BRCzARIsAPWTJ_Ek1UVIEJRDN7QkJGrF5 zSbkInFc4MNZi-ot7G8mIujenMaFAddJfQaAqhdEALw_wcB.
This website is for audio programming targeted towards children and education. It provides lists and reviews for audio programming including popular podcasts. It is free to use and easy to navigate, including summaries of episodes, their topics and themes, and links for listening to full episodes and clips. Users can utilize tabs like ‘Learn More’ to gain more information about the content and material and suggestions for other podcasts and episodes of similar and relevant content.
Book Club for Kids (Podcast)
Felde, K. (2020, November 11). Book Club for Kids on Apple Podcasts. Apple Podcasts. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/book-club-for- kids/id1016037208?mt=2.
This podcast is free and available on major podcast listening platforms such as Apple Podcast, Spotify, Stitcher, and more. Young readers will enjoy listening to conversations about books that include celebrity readers and author interviews. This podcast covers book suggestions, reading development, author interviews, and current reading news. It won the California Library Association Technology Award, the DC Mayor Award for Excellence in Humanities, and was named one of the tope ten podcasts for kids in the London Times.
Buttons and Figs (Podcast)
Rogers, P., & Torbey , S. (2020, November 3). Buttons & Figs on Apple Podcasts. Apple Podcasts. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/buttons-figs/id1150715877?mt=2.
Buttons and Figs podcast appeals to kids, parents, educators, and librarians by offering fun ways for kids to get into reading. The hosts share nonsensical literate, games and songs, poetry, and play with word activities. The energy and tone of the podcast is incredibly upbeat and positive while keeping the listeners engaged. Though mostly known as a fun podcast, there are elements of educational learning and reading that include wordplay, activities that encourage play, imagination and creativity, and general entertainment in the form of reading
Storynory: Stories for Kids (Podcast)
Storynory Ltd. . (2020, November 14). Storynory - Stories for Kids on Apple Podcasts. Apple Podcasts. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/storynory-stories-for- kids/id94571049?mt=2.
Storynory is a fun podcast that shares stories for children every week. Each story is read aloud with fun voices and engaging themes and covers topics ranging from fairy tales to myths, poems to short stories, adventures, and everything in between. This podcast is targeted towards children as listeners and parents and educators as followers. Parents and educators will enjoy the opportunity to spark imagination through audio versions of literature that encourage children to focus on the words and phrases while using their imaginations to fill in the imagery.