Strollerderby : reading with kids

Children's Choice Book Award Winners

Amy Kuras — Thu, 14 May 2009 20:04:00 GMT

Tuesday we told you it was Children’s Book Week this week. Well, today we’ll tell you the winners of their annual Children’s Choice Book Awards, voted on by young readers nationwide.

The envelope, please?

Kindergarten to Second Grade: The Pigeon Wants a Puppy, by Mo Willems

Third Grade to Fourth Grade: Spooky Cemeteries, by Dinah Williams

Fifth Grade to Sixth Grade: Thirteen, by Lauren Myracle

Teen Choice Book of the Year: Breaking Dawn, by Stephenie Meyer

Author of The Year: Stephenie Meyer, for Breaking Dawn

Illustrator of the Year: Jon J Muth, for Zen Ties

I admit I haven’t read any of them , but if The Pigeon Wants a Puppy is as funny as the original Don’t Let The Pigeon Drive the Bus, it ought to be book of the year for the little-kid set. As far as Breaking Dawn? There’s a sudden outbreak among women I know who are getting hooked on the Twilight series, even though many of them admit the writing s crap. What do you think? Worth picking up for someone who loved the Harry Potter series?

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Amy Kuras — Tue, 12 May 2009 15:01:00 GMT

You may not be aware of this, but it’s Children’s Book Week this week.
Founded in 1919 by Fredric Melcher, the editor of Publisher’s Weekly and Anne Carroll Moore, Superintendent of Children’s Works for the New York City Public Library, and a legendary figure in the library world, it’s now run by Every Child a Reader, the philanthropic arm of the children’s book industry.

On of the marquee events is the Children’s Choice Book award, which will be announced tomorrow.

Ina timely coincidence, I was cleaning out my basement this weekend in preparation for a garage sale and found a box I’d forgotten all about. When my parents moved out of my childhood home, I packed up a box of books I had loved in my youth, in hopes of someday passing them on to a child of my own. Now, of course, I have two of them and while they are a bit too young for Anne of Green Gables, I’m so glad I saved these and rediscovered them.

One of the best parts of parenthood for me is sharing books I loved as a child with my kids, and even better is discovering new ones together. The Olivia books, for example, and the whole “if You Give…” series were not in existence when I was a child, and we love them around here. And of course there is “Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus” which makes both my daughter and I howl with laughter.

What are some favorites you and your kids share? What are some new ones you have discovered together?

They Say: Boys Read if Dad Does

JeanneSager — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 20:30:00 GMT

Does your son like to read? Congratulations, Dad, you're doing your job.

A new study out of Australia says boys in two-parents households are more likely to read if their father does. If Mom reads, girls do too. In single-parent households (where Mom is usually the present parent - at least in this study), kids of both genders were equally influenced by Mom's reading habits. So what's the catch?

Parents need to put in at least fifty minutes of daily reading time for their efforts to have any affect on their kids, the study concluded, and too few parents do. The figures showed only seventeen percent of boys are reading and only twenty-six percent of girls - and that included their homework.

It all sounds like a no-brainer to me. I often harp on the time I stood in the mall bookstore listening to a mother whine to the clerk that she was starting a book club with her friends, but she doesn't really like to read. "Do you have anything fun to read?" she asked. "Most books are boring." She said this with her son (who looked to be about seven) standing right beside her. It's no wonder when she turned to him and asked, "Do you want me to buy you anything?" that he shook his head. "No, can we go to Target now?" he asked.

You just said books are boring, lady, and you really expect your kid to say, "yeah, I want this one, and this one, and this one?"

What struck me most about the study, however, was the reminder that parents reading isn't enough. You have to do it IN FRONT OF your kids. Again, a no brainer. But that's the hard part. I get most of my reading in at bedtime, after my three-year-old is snuggled into her bed. Either my husband or I make sure we do the nightly book before bed with her, but our own reading habits are largely closeted. Not because we're hiding them from her, but because there's simply little time during the day to read while she's awake.

There's work, making dinner, giving her a bath, playing with her . . . even the times I try to curl up on the couch with the latest piece of fluff I've checked out of the library to escape into is interrupted by the dog who has to go out, the phone ringing, the pre-schooler who wants a cup of juice. Still, I try. We visit the library - a lot. I keep my books and magazines scattered around the house. I read to her, and each holiday is celebrated with a new book.

How do you keep them reading?

Image: YourDictionary.com

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News from Darkest Peru: Paddington Turns 50

JeanneSager — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 21:05:00 GMT

The bear of very little brain may get more press, but I've always had a soft spot in my heart for another bear of English origins. Pad dingt on bear is still looking smart in his little blue duffle and jaunty felt hat – despite today's celebration of his 50th birthday.

Tales of the bear with an especial affinity for sticky marmalade sandwiches have been translated into 40 languages and sold more than 35 million copies since it was first published by Harper Collins on October 13, 1958. So why do I still feel like he's tromping in his wellies far behind Pooh?

Born in Darkest Peru and raised by his Aunt Lucy after being orphaned as a very little bear, Paddington falls into the lives of the Brown family of London much like he does any of his goofy predicaments. He's sitting with a suitcase and a tag that reads "please look after this bear," when the Browns stumble over him on their way to collect their daughter from the train. Thus ensconcsed in their London home, he proceeds to show he's made of much sterner stuff than Pooh - getting into the types of troubles the other, more wussy, bear would think, think, think about and never get around to. As Paddington says, "Things happen to me. I'm that sort of bear."

They share a taste for sweets and the resulting stout form, and like the other bear whose moniker starts with "P," Paddington has also been immortalized on the small screen. But without currying the favor of the Disney magic wand, the ever-polite Paddington has kept a stiff upper lip in the manner of all things British and let Pooh get all the play.

But with news late last fall that a producer of Harry Potter (you know, that other British import that's made movie magic stateside) is working on a Paddington Bear movie, there's hope that some day all American kids will be looking after the bear as he waddles into middle age.

Image: PaddingtonBear.com

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Al Roker's Book Club for Kids: Grab a Book and Turn on the TV

Jessica Ashley (Sassafrass) — Sat, 28 Apr 2007 17:04:00 GMT

Did you see Friday's "Today" show? If not, you missed segments on must-have shoes, how to turn your kitchen chaos around, the cool Japanese dude from "Heroes" and the launch of Al's new book club for kids.

Seriously.

Al's broken out of the weather biz and breezed past fun, little light features on BBQ competitions and the Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center to launch his very own book club in an effort to counteract disinterest in reading among kids 8 and older. The new series does have some solid academic backing with, coinciding with the Scholastic Summer Reading BUZZ campaign.

"Al's Book Club for Kids" will be discussing a new title each month of the summer on the Plaza . Meanwhile, all the kids who's parents aren't making them watch TV to inspire a love of reading (irony? you are not lost on me) are at summer camp and swimming at the park district pool and playing hide and seek with the neighbor kids in an effort to counteract child obesity.

No, really, I imagine that Al and his people are going to be great at picking books that light the literacy fire for the 'tweens. And I also imagine that Oprah is totally going to kick the weather guy's ass when she hears about all this.

Strollerderby : reading with kids

Children's Choice Book Award Winners

Celebrate Children's Book Week

Children's Books You Will Never Read

Celebrate Children's Book Week

They Say: Boys Read if Dad Does

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Moose With Loose Poops: Most Disgusting Book Title Ever?

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Read 'Em and Weep

News from Darkest Peru: Paddington Turns 50

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Three-Year-Old Romanian Girl Youngest Singer, and She's Cute As All Get Out

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Al Roker's Book Club for Kids: Grab a Book and Turn on the TV