Literacy is not just the act of learning the alphabet and discovering how the letters make words. Literacy is the foundation for all types of learning. You need literacy to read, to write, to perform science experiments, and even when writing code for a computer program. That is why it is so important to give caregivers the support and tools needed to build that strong foundation in literacy for their children. On the road to independent reading, there can be some bumps in the road, but even once the road starts to smooth out, there is still room for parents and libraries to help a child grow. Library programs offer an extension of what children are learning at school and continue to build a groundwork of literacy that will serve them well as they move to middle school, high school, and even college.
But, as children enter school, the number of activities they are in grows exponentially. Activities such as team sports, music and dance lessons, art classes, and coding clubs all vie for a child’s attention and a parent’s time. Even caregivers who were regular library users during the toddler and preschool years may not think about the library as a place for after-school enrichment. With lots of competition out there, libraries have had to up their game to show their continued relevance.
The school age years are a time of learning and with that comes homework. Homework can come in different formats such as worksheets, book reports, or research projects. Completing these assignments may feel like a chore for both the parent and the child. The idea of fun, joyful reading like that which was shared during snuggle time as a preschooler can fall by the wayside as school encroaches. While libraries cannot overrule the need to do homework, they can work with families to make sure free-choice reading is still happening.
Once assigned reading starts, families will begin coming to the library with specific types of books they need, usually needed as soon as possible, aka the next day. It is things like “I need a fantasy book” or “I have to do a report on the Titanic.”
Unfortunately, many times genre or subject reports are not an area of interest for the particular student in front of you. You can usually tell immediately from one’s body language and tone of voice. The mother or the father might just be trying to get the books needed and move on to the next item on their to-do list. Or, as I’ve seen happen, the parents are super excited about the topic but the student is not. When this happens, a child can start to equate reading as work and not a fun pastime.
When it does happen, here is what you can do to help make both the parent and the child a repeat customer. In this example, the genre assigned is historical fiction. To start, I ask for assignment parameters. A question like, “Does it have to be from a particular time in history?” can start to narrow things down. For example, does it need to take place during World War II, the American Revolution, September 11, or the Civil War? If the answer is yes to any of these areas of history, that helps narrow things down a little. If it is no, then the pool of books to recommend from is much larger. From here, I ask what the child likes to read. Past books, even if they are not historical fiction, can help me narrow down to a book I think the child will like. So, if they say they like sports I may suggest a Dan Gutman sports novel like Willie and Me: A Baseball Card Adventure as long as the time period doesn’t matter.
Combat the phenomenon of the boring school assignment reading with this tip that is extremely simple and will cost you nothing! It is a quick add-on to the readers advisory interview. While finding out what a child has to read, the librarian also finds out a little bit about what he or she likes to read or do. Then, once you have found the book for the report, you can suggest adding on an extra item just for fun.
The child goes home not only with the requisite book for his or her report but also with a book that speaks to him or her. It can be a sports biography, a graphic novel, or a book on World War II. The add-on book can be one that the parent and the child read together, or it can be a book that the child turns to once homework is done for the night. If done successfully, you have both a happy reader and a happy parent leaving your library.
I had the pleasure of going back to working in a public library branch for a couple of months in 2018 when the children’s librarian went on leave. The Beachwood Branch of Cuyahoga County Public Library is a busy branch and the customers are voracious readers. When I started, I was told that kids come in asking for new series to read and that these kids would then take the whole series that is recommended home with them. It was a cool phenomenon that I experienced myself a few times.
One of my favorite readers advisory moments took place with a second-grade boy. The mother was very proud of her son, the reader, and she made sure to let me know that he was reading on a seventh-grade level. When I met him, it was spring break and he needed a few new books to take home. I was called upon to help with the selection of titles. We had a great time talking books and what he liked to read. Not surprising, he loved hybrid books like the Diary of a Wimpy Kid and Captain Underpants series. Many of my first suggestions he had already read. This posed a challenge but also helped me get to know him as a reader.
The mother did interject at one point and apologized to me because his voracious reading habits made recommendations harder. I quickly responded that helping readers find books of interest was my job and was the part I liked the most. It was fun for me to have to dig a little deeper into my own reading history to find just the right books for him. I wanted to make sure both the mother and the son realized that they were not a problem for me and that I was not in a hurry to finish.
I continued making recommendations and discovered that he was not a fan of Star Wars when he turned down Tom Angleberger’s Origami Yoda series. Then I struck gold with the following: Mac Barnett’s Terrible Two and The Brixton Brothers series as well as The Odd Squad series by Michael Fry. He was super excited to give them a try. He also took an Albert Einstein biography home for a school project.
While many caregivers will insert themselves into the conversation, I was able to respond to the mother’s reading-level information and calm her fear that I did have plenty of time to spend helping her son. Other than that, the transaction was mostly between me and the child and the mother hung back. This let him be confident in his reading tastes, and boy was he!
A 10-year-old girl came to me asking for help finding something new to read. When I asked what she likes to read, she told me that she likes reading mysteries. I suggested a couple of different mysteries and the mother thought they looked good, but her daughter was not so sure. As we talked further and I asked her what books she had read and liked. She pointed out Lauren Myracle’s Flower Power series on the shelf and then said that what she liked was real stuff.
That was the turning point of the interaction. I now realized she liked to read books with characters like her or at least books with realistic friendship plots. From there I went on to suggest Anastasia Krupnik by Lois Lowry, which is a classic but piqued her interested when I mentioned that Anastasia was dealing with losing her place as an only child. She took the first two books in the series to try.
A school age collection is going to be made up of a variety of materials to interest children of a wide age span. When you are making reading recommendations or looking for books to use in programs, you are going to be shopping your picture books, beginning reader, fiction, and nonfiction collections. Chapters 1 through 3 offer picture book and beginning reader titles for listeners and early readers, so this chapter will focus on picture books, fiction, and nonfiction titles for older elementary and middle grade readers.
Since 2010 many states have adopted the Common Core Standards of Education, and these standards place a bigger emphasis on nonfiction. The good news is that there are now a lot of great nonfiction books being published each year. Amazing artwork and photographs are being used to augment the sharing of facts, and the text is written in a narrative style that is more engaging. These books teach but do so in an appealing way that draws kids in. Once kids find a topic they like, the world of nonfiction books opens up to them and they have lots of choices to pick from.
Munro, Roxie. Masterpiece Mix. New York, NY: Holiday House, 2017. unpaged. $16.95. 9780823436996.
A brief overview of art techniques and subjects with examples of real paintings woven into the illustrations.
Wallace, Sandra Neil. Between the Lines: How Ernie Barnes Went from the Football Field to the Art Gallery. Illustrated by Bryan Collier. New York, NY: A Paula Wiseman Book, 2018. unpaged. $17.99. 9781481443876.
Ernie’s passion for the arts is postponed when the opportunity to play professional football presents itself.
Cline-Ransome, Lesa. Before She Was Harriet: The Story of Harriet Tubman. Illustrated by James E. Ransome. New York, NY: Holiday House, 2017. unpaged. $17.95. 9780823420476.
A unique biography that starts at the end of the subject’s life and works its way backward.
Bolden, Tonya. No Small Potatoes: Junius G. Groves and His Kingdom in Kansas. Illustrated by Don Tate. New York, NY: Alfred A. Knopf, 2018. unpaged. $17.99. 9780385752763.
The story of a former slave who moves to Kansas in the 1880s. By planting potatoes he becomes one of the richest men in the state.
Harvey, Jeanne Walker. Maya Lin: Artist-Architect of Light and Lines: Designer of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. Illustrated by Dow Phumiruk. New York, NY: Christy Ottaviano Books, 2017. unpaged. $17.99. 9781250112491.
Discover the girl who became the woman who entered a contest and won the right to design the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
Sotomayor, Sonia. Turning Pages: My Life Story. Illustrated by Lulu Delacre. New York, NY: Philomel Books, 2018. unpaged. $17.99. 9780525514084.
The first Latina Supreme Court Justice writes her autobiography and shares how books prepared her for her choice in career.
Bruchac, Joseph. Chester Nez and the Unbreakable Code: A Navajo Code Talker’s Story. Illustrated by Liza Amini-Holmes. Chicago, IL: Albert Whitman & Company, 2018. unpaged. $16.99. 9780807500071.
During World War II, men from the Navajo tribe were recruited by the marines to turn their language into a code that the Japanese enemies would not be able to break.
Eggers, Dave. Her Right Foot. Illustrated by Shawn Harris. San Francisco, CA: Chronicle Books, 2017. unpaged. $19.99. 9781452162812.
The story of how the Statue of Liberty came to be, what she stands for, and why her right foot is ready to move forward.
Grimes, Nikki. One Last Word: Wisdom from the Harlem Renaissance. Illustrated by Cozbi A. Cabrera, R. Gregory Christie, Pat Cummings, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Ebony Glenn, E. B. Lewis, Frank Morrison, Christopher Myers, Brian Pinkney, Sean Qualls, James Ransome, Javaka Steptoe, Shadra Strickland, and Elizabeth Zunon. New York, NY: Bloomsbury, 2017. 120p. $18.99. 9781619635548.
A tribute to the artists of the Harlem Renaissance. Grimes uses the poetic form called the Golden Shovel. She takes a short poem or a line from a longer poem and then writes her own with the word at the end of each line being one from the original poem. Her poem and the inspiration poem are side by side on the page.
Adler, David A. Money Math: Addition and Subtraction. Illustrated by Edward Miller. New York, NY: Holiday House, 2017. 31p. $17.95. 9780823436989.
Just as the title states, this book is about using money as a way to practice adding and subtracting.
Wilding, Karen. Visual Guide to Math. New York, NY: DK, 2018. 128p. $16.99. 9781465470935.
When caregivers need a resource to help their elementary school student with math, give them this book. It breaks down over 100 different math terms and uses visuals to help with understanding the concepts.
Alexander, Kwame, Chris Colderley, and Marjory Wentworth. Out of Wonder: Poems Celebrating Poets. Illustrated by Ekua Holmes. Somerville, MA: Candlewick Press, 2017. 49p. $16.99. 9780763680947.
Each poem tells the story of a well-known poet, and Holmes creates illustrations using different techniques and styles so that they capture the spirit of the poet being recognized.
Harris, Chris. I’m Just No Good at Rhyming and Other Nonsense for Mischievous Kids and Immature Grown-Ups. Illustrated by Lane Smith. New York, NY: Little, Brown and Company, 2017. 221p. $19.99. 978031 6266574.
In the vein of Shel Silverstein and Jack Prelutsky, these poems are funny, absurd, and just right to read aloud together.
Latham, Irene, Charles Waters, and Sean Qualls. Can I Touch Your Hair?: Poems of Race, Mistakes, and Friendship. Illustrated by Selina Alko. Minneapolis, MN: Carolrhoda Books, 2018. 39p. $17.99. 9781512404425.
A black boy and a white girl navigate friendship as they learn about the different experiences they’ve had because of their race.
Mora, Pat. Bookjoy, Wordjoy. Illustrated by Raul Colón. New York, NY: Lee & Low Books Inc., 2018. unpaged. $18.95. 9781620142868.
Celebrate a love of words and poetry and the books that they help create.
Chin, Jason. Grand Canyon. New York, NY: A Neal Porter Book, 2017. unpaged. $19.99. 9781596439504.
Discover the Grand Canyon of both the past and present as a father and daughter explore it.
Connolly, Sean. Book of Wildly Spectacular Sports Science: 60 Hands-On Experiments from Baseball Ballistics to Karate Kinetics. New York. NY: Workman Publishing, 2016. 243p. $14.95. 9780761189282.
From judo to Frisbee to track and field, the mechanics of sports are broken down into testable feats that kids can test using household supplies and with the help of an adult.
Montgomery, Sy, and Nic Bishop. The Hyena Scientist. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2018. 71p. (Scientists in the Field). $18.99. 9780544635111.
Each book in the series is filled with close-up photographs, and this time it is hyenas. The author shares the most current information about the subject directly from the researchers doing the work.
Engle, Margarita. The Flying Girl: How Aida de Acosta Learned to Soar. Illustrated by Sara Palacios. New York, NY: Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2018. unpaged. $17.99. 9781481445023.
When hot-air balloons were relatively new, Aida de Acosta pushed the gender boundaries to not only ride in a balloon but also to pilot.
Stone, Tanya Lee. Who Says Women Can’t Be Computer Programmers?: The Story of Ada Lovelace. Illustrated by Marjorie Priceman. New York, NY: Christy Ottaviano Books, 2018. unpaged. $18.99. 9781627792998.
A short biography on the life of Ada Lovelace, daughter of poet Lord Byron. It was unusual in the nineteenth century for a women’s mathematical and imaginative mind to be encouraged but Lovelace’s was. She helped create the blueprint for what computers would become a hundred years later.
A just-for-fun book can be any book in your collection. The definition of a fun book simply depends on the child you are currently working with. Here are some titles on a variety of themes.
Anderson, John David. Ms. Bixby’s Last Day. New York, NY: Walden Pond Press, 2016. 300p. $16.99. 9780062338174.
A group of boys in Ms. Bixby’s class want the chance to prove how much she means to them so they skip school and travel across town to find her—with a few bumps along the way. (Novel)
Birdsall, Jeanne. A Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits, and a Very Interesting Boy. New York, NY: Alfred A. Knopf, 2005. 262p. (The Penderwicks). $15.99. 9780375831430.
A timeless tale of sisterly adventure. (Novel)
Bowles, David. They Call Me Güero: A Border Kid’s Poems. El Paso, TX: Cinco Puntos Press, 2018. 111p. $18.95. 9781947627062.
Follow the story of Güero, a middle school mexicano boy, who is living in Texas right on the border with Mexico. He is a nerd with a small circle of friends and a girl who just might like him back. (Novel)
Burgos, Hilda Eunice. Ana María Reyes Does Not Live in a Castle. New York, NY: Tu Books, 2018. 284p. $18.95. 9781620143629.
Being a middle child in a large family is a tough position to be in. Ana María is a talented piano player and excellent at school. She just needs to find a way to shine within her family. (Novel)
Cartaya, Pablo. The Epic Fail of Arturo Zamora. New York, NY: Viking, 2017. 236p. $16.99. 9781101997239.
The family restaurant, La Cocina, is being threatened by a developer so Arturo teams up with his crush, Carmen, to fight back. (Novel)
Child, Brenda J. Bowwow Powwow: Bagosenjie-niimi’idim. Translated by Gordon Jourdain. Illustrated by Jonathan Thunder. Saint Paul, MN: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2018. unpaged. $16.95. 9781681 340777.
Windy Girl loves attending the powwow and listening to the stories of her Ojibwa tribe. Then she starts imagining her own stories. (Picture Book)
Engle, Margarita. All the Way to Havana. Illustrated by Mike Curato. New York, NY: Godwin Books, 2017. unpaged. $17.99. 9781627796422.
Take a journey through Cuba in one family’s old car and immerse yourself in all the island has to offer. (Picture Book)
Grabenstein, Chris. Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library. New York, NY: Yearling, 2013. 290p. (Mr. Lemonceollo’s Library). $17.99. 97803758 70897.
Smart kids are invited to spend the night at the new library, and if they can solve the mysterious clues left by the building’s designer, they win the prize. But this library is not like any library you have ever been to before. (Novel)
Hautman, Pete. Slider. New York, NY: Scholastic, Inc., 2017. 278p. $16.99. 9780763690700.
David learns the hard way that bidding online can have disastrous consequences, and now professional eating contests are his only way to pay his parents back before they get their credit card statement. (Novel)
Jolley, Dan. The Emerald Tablet. New York, NY: Harper, 2016. 294p. (Five Elements). $16.99. 9780062411655.
A seemingly innocent ritual of the elements is only supposed to cement their friendship but instead creates a crack between their world and a magical destructive one. Now, infused with elemental powers, they will have to find a way to put things right. (Novel)
Lê, Minh. Drawn Together. Illustrated by Dan Santat. New York, NY: Disney Hyperion, 2018. unpaged. $17.99. 9781484767603.
A grandfather and grandson do not speak the same language but discover they can communicate through their art. (Picture Book)
Lien, Henry. Peasprout Chen: Future Legend of Skate and Sword. New York, NY: Henry Holt and Company, 2018. 330p. (Peasprout Chen). $16.99. 9781250165695.
A student at a famous skate-and-sword school discovers who she can trust when someone starts vandalizing the school and they make sure she is a suspect. As the incidents escalate so does the potential for war between her home country and the country of her new school. (Novel)
Mass, Wendy, and Rebecca Stead. Bob. Illustrated by Nicholas Gannon. New York, NY: Feiwel and Friends, 2018. 201p. $16.99. 9781250166623.
After five years away, Livy returns to Australia to visit her grandmother and rediscovers Bob, a creature in a chicken suit. She does not remember him, but he remembers her and the promise she made to help him find his way home. (Novel)
McAnulty, Stacy. The Miscalculations of Lightning Girl. New York, NY: Random House, 2018. 293p. $16.99. 9781524767570.
Lucy was struck by lightning, and it left her a math genius who has trouble relating to her peers, which is even more complicated when you are starting middle school. (Novel)
Soundar, Chitra. Mangoes, Mischief, and Tales of Friendship: Stories from India. Illustrated by Uma Krishnaswamy. Somerville, MA: Candlewick Press, 2019. 179p. $16.99. 9781536200676.
A collection of short story fables set in India. Prince Veera and his best friend Suku fill in for the king and use creative methods to help solve the kingdom’s problems. (Novel)
Stoddard, Lindsey. Just Like Jackie. New York, NY: Harper, 2018. 244p. $16.99. 9780062652911.
Robinson is her grandfather’s right hand when it comes to working on cars in his automotive shop. Now her grandfather, who’s also her guardian, is starting to forget things, and she’s worried what will happen if anyone finds out. (Novel)
With the emphasis on STEM, STEAM, and STREAM, libraries are offering more programs that tap into the subject areas of science, technology, reading, engineering, arts, and math. Kids are exposed to a variety of program options when they reach school age, and the programs are tailored to their age level and ability. Kids have the opportunity to try out computer programming and coding skills that could lead them to careers when they are older. Programs for school age kids are not just for after-school or evening attendees. There are also programs like Summer Reading or other book challenges that inspire learning through reading.
Becky Ranallo and Megan Barrett lead the information and technology learning department at Cuyahoga County Public Library, and their focus is innovative programming for young children all the way up to seniors. As libraries embraced the Common Core changes to education and the push for science, math, engineering, and technology skills in particular, the kids and parents have benefited. At libraries, kids can now build and test robots and create computer programs. While community organizations may offer similar content, they usually charge fees for their sessions but libraries do not.
For Ranallo and Barrett, a light bulb went off when they were attending a local high school’s Noise Expo, which brought together county and student entrepreneurs. They saw how impactful it was for students to get to interact with multiple organizations at one time. So, they began to think about how they could translate it to benefit the STEAM programs already happening at the library branch level. They decided to try a STEAM Expo. The goal was threefold: increase the number of adult STEAM volunteers, showcase and spread awareness of the variety of programs the library offers to caregivers, and give staff the opportunity to learn from each other.
An e-mail was sent out to library staff seeking volunteers to present. The only requirements were that it had to be something that could be demonstrated to a group of people and it had to have a hands-on component for people to try out. A cool outcome was that staff at all levels, and not just the MLS librarians, had an opportunity to shine. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) interns were also invited to come and they did wind-tunnel demonstrations. Cuyahoga County Public Library is lucky to have the NASA Glenn Research Center located within their service area.
A local company called Games Done Legit was hired through grant funds to do virtual-reality programming with an educational slant. For additional support, current STEAM volunteers were on hand to help with activities and speak to potential new volunteers about what is involved. The activities, listed in Table 6.1, were appropriate for all ages but would be appreciated on different levels depending on the age of the participants. For example, little kids would enjoy making something fizzy, while older kids and adults would understand more of the science behind a bath bomb.
Table 6.1 STEAM Expo
| STEAM Expo—Activities/Demos Cuyahoga County Public Library | |
| CCPL Staff-Led Stations: | |
| Activity/Demo | Staff Facilitator(s) |
| Chem-Mystery Program | Teen Librarian and STEAM Volunteer |
| Raspberry Pi | Teen Librarian and STEAM Volunteer |
| Bath Bomb Science | Teen Librarian |
| Screen Printing | Adult Assistant |
| Whatever Floats Your Boat | Teen Librarian |
| Digital Photography/Seed Tape/ Math Literacy Games | Generalist Librarian |
| Ukulele @ CCPL | Children’s Librarian & Teen Librarian |
| Tween Time Magnetic Art | Children’s Assistant and Generalist Librarian |
| Coding with Light BOT | Teen Librarian |
| Innovation Centers | Information Technology Literacy Staff |
| Makey Makeys & Minecraft | Information Technology Literacy Staff |
| LEGO Robotics | Information Technology Literacy Staff |
| Volunteers @ CCPL | Volunteer Coordinator |
| Outside Organizations: | |
| Activity/Demo | Organization |
| Wind Tunnel Life Experiment | NASA |
| Virtual Reality Experience | Games Done Legit |
Reprinted with permission from Megan Barrett and Rebecca Ranallo, Cuyahoga County Public Library.
Advertising for the event involved some typical outlets like e-mails to library customers and posting to the library’s social media platforms. The STEAM Expo was listed in the printed Branch Programming Guide that lists all library events, on the library’s website both on the main landing page and in the events calendar. Library staff, especially those who were presenting, talked it up in their local communities, and the host branch encouraged people to check out the program that day. Help reaching an even larger audience was provided by the Encore Cleveland Foundation, a grant funder, who allowed the library to post to their blog and who then in turn reposted it to their social media platforms. This gave great, free, publicity through an already-established partnership.
The STEAM Expo was five hours long and there was no registration required to attend. Approximately 150 kids, teens, and adults came to experience at least some of the fun and educational activities. As families approached the various tables, caregivers were encouraged to participate in the activities too. Most were just as engaged as the kids, including one father with two teenage daughters. He jumped right in and made a bath bomb for his wife. It was a chance to talk informally about the programs themselves, and the STEAM parts were broken down for each activity. This showed parents that the library offers fun, but also educational programming for all ages.
Overall, parents were happy to learn that the library offered these programs. One 12-year-old boy wanted to know when they were going to do it all again. Having the extended time period of 10:00 A.M. to 3:00 P.M. allowed some families to come for a brief visit and for others to stay up to two hours. For families it was a similar experience to attending the local Children’s Museum or Science Center as there were lots of things to explore, learn, and touch.
In the future, a theme might become part of the planning process. In order to make the event more of a destination, the demonstrations might be at specific times while the hands-on activities would be available throughout the whole event. A STEAM Expo Light is also in the works. It will be a smaller version that could be done right on the library floor rather than in a meeting room. The goal would be to capture the attention of more library visitors.
Ranallo and Barrett spent about $1,300. Roughly $300 for supplies and staff tee shirts and $1,000 for the grant funded outside presenter. If your library budget is healthy or you can get grant support, this budget might be within reach for you. If not, an expo can also be done on a shoestring budget. You really only need tables and supplies for each station. Cutting out the expensive outside presenter and tee shirts could get your budget down to only a couple of hundred dollars. Perhaps a plea to the local Friends of the Library Group would be all you need to get the greenlight and budget needed.
The best part is that this program works for libraries pulling in staff from many branches, but it also works for libraries that are either a stand-alone or have a couple of branches. Size is not a factor. All that is needed is to take a look at the cool, perhaps unexpected for a library, programs you already offer. Then take a piece or part from them and you have your stations. In one afternoon, you can show caregivers and the community how you support your schools and the enrichment of a child’s education that starts with reading and continues on to other areas of literacy like science and math. For school libraries you could create an expo for families that showcases the technology and makerspace equipment you use with students. School librarians may also want to partner with science teachers for the schools’ science fair.
You may not have the staffing, space, or time to host a large program like the STEAM Expo, but many libraries are already offering coding programs and camps for school age kids in their community. These programs are super popular in Cuyahoga County. The number of participants is usually limited because of the need of computers or tablets for the coding piece and also so that the instructor is able to give the kids the attention they need. For these programs, the parents are not required to attend. If they do, they might be sitting at the back or just coming in for the project presentation at the end. But it does not have to be this way. You can invite parents into the coding program so the whole family can learn together. The best part is that you may only need to tweak a type of programming you might already be presenting.
Children’s librarian Maria Trivisonno attended a conference on family learning, and one of the presentations was using the PBS Scratch Jr. program to teach kids and caregivers about coding. She thought the curriculum and app that had been created were well done and wanted to give it a try at her library. Since the program involved both the adults and kids, she asked JoAnna Schofield, the generalist librarian, who works with customers of all ages, to be her partner on the program. This ended up being a great chance for adult and youth staff to work together on a program.
The program is offered over four sessions that each last two hours. PBS recommends doing it over a four-week period but Schofield and Trivisonno offered it over a two-week period on Wednesday and Thursday evening each week. This worked better for their community. The first 30 minutes of each session was a family-style dinner. They ordered in pizza, which the library paid for. Schofield suggests talking to local restaurants about donating food for these meals. It never hurts to ask, if the cost of providing food would be a barrier to your library.
After dinner, the caregivers and kids were divided up into two groups. The adults went to a separate space with Schofield. She talked with caregivers about the importance of STEM activities and the need for caregivers to participate in these endeavors. It was also a great opportunity to impart some media mentorship tips to the caregivers. They discussed what makes a good app and what to be cautious of if the app is free. Then they moved on to a learning game. The adults were also taught the basics of the scratch activity for the week before rejoining the kids. The kids with Trivisonno played the same learning game that their caregivers were doing. They also learned the scratch lesson for that session. Then the families came back together to practice the new scratch skill together.
The program is mapped out in the free PBS curriculum called “Family Creative Learning: Facilitator Guide.” Each week you may need extra supplies for the activities, but the bare minimum you will need each week includes:
If at all possible, they recommend that there is a 1:1 ratio between caregiver and child. This was accomplished at Warrensville because not only did parents attend but so did grandparents. This allowed the adults to divide and conquer if there were multiple kids in the family.
Of course, there are other work-arounds if you do not have the ideal 1:1 ratio. Perhaps older kids can work more independently and the caregiver can spend more time with the younger child who might need more help or vice versa if the older child wants to do something elaborate and the younger sibling is okay just playing and experimenting without a lot of adult help.
Keeping the program to around a dozen participants hits the sweet spot. Schofield said they had up to 18 people at one time, but the majority of the sessions were at 12. This was a good number of kids and adults to work with so everyone could get the time and attention they needed from the presenters.
Cuyahoga County Public Library uses an online events calendar to advertise programs and for customers to register. Schofield and Trivisonno used this as the main way to get the word out about the multiday program for families. Other avenues used included the white message board in the children’s room and an e-mail blast to families who regularly attend programs. If you do an e-mail blast, it can boost your numbers. Just make sure you use the blind copy feature when putting in the e-mail addresses so you are not sharing customer e-mails without their permission. While the target age group is ages five to eight, older and younger siblings were welcome to join the family at this program.
When offering a program, especially a new one and a series one at that, it is great to survey the participants to find out what they thought. Schofield and Trivisonno did this and got some great feedback. Caregivers reported being excited about the opportunity to work with their kids. Parents liked that both groups did the same activity when they were broken into separate groups. This allowed them to talk about what each experienced afterward. Parents said they would use the PBS Jr. Scratch App after the program was over.
There were some great benefits to offering this series of programs on coding and inviting the adults to be participants rather than just be bystanders.
Keeping reading as a fun, pleasurable activity is harder as kids get older. With the start of elementary school, things like homework, extracurricular activities, and new friendships eat into the precious free-time minutes a child has. A creative way to show parents they need to keep reading on the list is to make it fun, and a challenge or competition is just one fun way to do it.
You have probably heard of the 1,000 Books Before Kindergarten or the 1,000 Early Literacy Moments. Both are great ways for families to practice reading and other literacy skills before a child starts school. Then the focus shifts to learning to read during those early school years, but Christine Pyles, youth services manager, at Euclid Public Library wanted a way to engage families beyond grade two. She had two goals for the program: encourage kids in grades three to six to read more and to increase the number of children’s materials checked out by families. The 50 Book Challenge was the perfect way to meet both of these objectives.
Pyles is lucky to have a great staff to pull from, including three full-time librarians, two full-time associates, and two part-time associates. As a group they began looking for titles that kids could choose from to complete the challenge. They wanted to have 100 titles initially and then planned to add more over time. Of course, they were looking for a variety of reading levels, different genres and subjects, and diverse titles. Important to remember is that the list is not a literary list but one that would have titles of high interest for kid readers. For each title that made the list, three questions to go with it were created by the title’s recommender.
Staff were not assigned a specific number of titles or areas to read for. Instead, all were encouraged to help build the list, but reading was not done on work time. Pyles found it was helpful to look back at her Goodreads account for titles to suggest for the list. Once the initial 100 titles were settled upon, the list was given to the library’s graphics department for creating a trifold brochure. It has a place for the child’s name on the front cover and spots to check off titles as they are read. The back cover explains the challenge to parents and kids. Find an example of the original 50 Book Challenge brochure in Appendix F.
The program went live in January 2018 after about six months of title list building, question writing, and brochure printing. To get the word out, they created posters, displays, and flyer handouts. They advertised on Facebook and Twitter.
Like many new programs, word of mouth was one of the best ways to get the message out. At the time of the launch, Pyles and her team were able to visit the local schools and talk about the 50 Book Challenge. In February, a special page was added to the library’s website to promote the challenge to families browsing online.
January saw a big rush of people coming in to sign up, and then it slowed down a little. As of April 2018, there were about 50 kids participating, and the staff planned to promote again during spring school visits as well as to those signing up for the library’s Summer Reading Game.
As you would expect, the program requires each child participating to read 50 books off the list provided by the library. Kids can read at their own pace, and there is no set date to have all 50 books read. The hope is that kids who start in third grade will complete the challenge by the end of sixth grade.
As a way to gauge what is being read and engage families, kids must come into the library after they finish a book. The library staff ask the children up to three questions about the book they have finished, and if they get at least one question right, then they get credit for the book. As kids sign up, they are entered into a spreadsheet created by the library, which is also used to track the titles each kid has read. While kids can keep track on the trifold brochure, the staff decided to also keep track in case the paper copy is lost.
Books from the list are pulled out and have their own section of shelving. This allows the 50 Book Challenge participants to browse specifically for titles on the list. The librarians and assistants do the pulling, not the shelving staff. They are considering adding stickers to the book spines so they would be easier to be identified by both the staff and families.
Incentives are given along the way to offer a little reward for the reading taking place.
While reading simply for the pleasure of reading is ideal, Pyles felt that small tokens to encourage continued participation would help motivate kids who might otherwise not participate.
A conscious decision was made to not have any pieces needed to participate available online. Registration, question answering, and prize picking up were all done in the library. Pyles felt it was important to get repeat visits out of the families as a way to get to know them better and to encourage the checking out of more library materials.
In order to keep the list of suggested titles fresh, it does involve some upkeep. This can be done once or twice a year or whatever time frame works best for your library. Replacing titles that are popular will also be necessary.
Book List. From the start Pyles knew that the number of titles kids could choose from would grow. Feedback from the first 100 titles led to them looking for more titles that would appeal to boys. They also looked for some high-interest but lower-reading level titles for kids at the younger end who weren’t quite ready for the targeted grade-level titles. With these factors in mind, 80 new titles were added 6 months later.
In order to keep using the current supply of brochures, the new titles were created as an insert. After the initial supply runs out, they will revise the list and take off titles that are not popular with the readers and add new titles that have been published since the original list was created. The idea is to make the brochure a living document so it continues to appeal to new readers.
Collection Maintenance. To start the challenge, two to three replacement copies of each title were ordered from a book vendor. They decided to go with coated paperbacks from Baker and Taylor rather than library binding as it would allow them to stretch their budget a little farther. To pay for the project, they looked at what parts of the collection were and were not performing well. In the end, Pyles decided to decrease the audiovisual budget in order to increase the book budget.
Realizing that the replacement of titles is not going to be a one-time purchase is key. As new titles are added, you will need to add fresh replacement copies. As old favorites continue to stay on the list, they will start to show their wear and will also need to be replaced. This is a great problem, as it means your collection is circulating, but it also means you have to budget accordingly to support your program.
Pyles was pleased to report that 85 percent of participants were doing the challenge with the help of a caregiver. Two of the parents were reading the books along with their kids and even listening to the books together in the car. One child was reading with his father. As of September 2018, 60 kids were signed up for the 50 Book Challenge. Four kids had read 20 books or more, 8 kids had read between 5 and 15 books, and 28 kids had read between 1 and 4 books. When the program launched in January, Pyles saw a 10 percent increase in circulation.
If you are looking to engage kids in elementary and middle school, creating your own reading challenge may be the direction you want to go.
Public Library. You will need to start by creating a budget for the books you want extra copies of, program materials, and prizes you want to give away. Once you have the funding in place, look to generate your list of books and questions, replace copies of the books, and order the prizes you will need. Then create the program materials and start advertising.
School Library. Ask the principal and classroom teachers about having a schoolwide challenge. Decide which grades will participate, how many books kids will be expected to read, and what types of prizes they will receive. Other questions will involve funding for extra books and prizes. Perhaps a parent group will be able to help or you can look for community donations. Also, decide if kids will go to the school librarian to answer their book questions or if they will be able to do it with their classroom teacher.
A reading challenge will likely not replace your Summer Reading Program at either the public or school library. However, it can run alongside the Summer Reading Program and offer additional reading incentive during the school year.
For the elementary- through middle-school crowd, you should strive to add to your repertoire:
Angleberger, Tom. The Strange Case of the Origami Yoda. New York, NY: Amulet Books, 2010. 141p. (Origami Yoda). $12.95. 9780810984257.
Barnett, Mac. The Case of the Case of Mistaken Identity. Illustrated by Adam Rex. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2009. 179p. $14.99. 9781416978152.
Barnett, Mac, and Jory John. The Terrible Two. Illustrated by Kevin Cornell. New York, NY: Amulet Books, 2015. 217p. (The Terrible Two). $13.95. 9781419714917.
Fry, Michael. Bully Bait. New York, NY: Disney Hyperion Books, 2013. 214p. (The Odd Squad). $12.99. 9781423169246.
Gutman, Dan. Willie & Me. New York, NY: Harper, 2015. 157p. (A Baseball Card Adventure). $15.99. 9780061704048.
Kinney, Jeff. Greg Heffley’s Journal. New York, NY: Amulet Books, 2007. 217p. (Diary of a Wimpy Kid). $13.95. 9780810993136.
Lowry, Lois. Anastasia Krupnik. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Company, 1979. 104p. (Anastasia Krupnik). $6.99pa. 9780544336681pa.
Myracle, Lauren. Oopsy Daisy. Illustrated by Christine Norrie. New York, NY: Amulet Books, 2012 (2009). 332p. (Flower Power). $16.95. 9781419700194.
Pilkey, Dav. The Adventures of Captain Underpants. New York, NY: Scholastic Inc., 1997. 121p. (Captain Underpants). 5.99pa. 9780590846288pa.
Barrett, Megan, and Becky Ranallo. In interview with the author. November 7, 2017.
Pyles, Christine. In interview with the author. May 4, 2018.
Schofield, JoAnna. In interview with the author. August 2, 2018.
“Development Process.” Common Core State Standards Initiative. Accessed September 18, 2018. http://www.corestandards.org/about-the-standards/development-process/.
“Family Creative Learning: Facilitator Guide.” PBS Kids. Accessed August 2, 2018. http://iel.org/sites/default/files/PBS%20KIDS%20FCL%20Facilitator%20Guide.pdf.