How on earth did I learn to read?

I have newfound respect for new readers. I think because my own experience with reading seemed so natural and fluid from an early age, I have wondered why early elementary school kids sometimes had such difficulty. No more.

Why the change? Well, in my children's literature class, we've been learning about easy readers and transitional books. To remind us adults how difficult decoding scratches on a page can be, my teacher gave the class an activity in which we had to learn a different language. First, she taught us a nursery rhyme in German. She gave us motions so we got the gist of the translation. Then she wrote it on the board, and we had to sound it out based on what we remembered of the rhyme. Next, she wrote something entirely different on the board. We could kind of figure out the sounds because of the first nursery rhyme, but we had no idea what it meant (pure phonics). Using pictures, she had us slowly decode each word and, finally, sentences that made sense.

And, boy, was it HARD! I felt like such a dunce, because other people in the class were figuring out some words based on their similarily to English, and I just couldn't. It wasn't until she held up the pictures that I started putting together the words with their meanings.

The exercise was a fantastic reminder of how complicated reading is. You're simultaneously figuring out the sounds, the words, the meanings of the words, and making a cohesive thought once you put it all together. That's an awful lot of work for an elementary school kid! From now on, I'm ready to cheerlead young readers no matter where they are, from just starting out or way ahead of their grade level.

Furthermore, because I really couldn't decipher some of the words without the pictures she held up, I will never look at an easy reader in the same way again. The exercise emphasized the necessity of having the illustrations closely matching the text so that beginning readers can be helped along in understanding words they've never met before. Remembering this experience will definitely affect the books I recommend to young readers and their parents as well as how I approach collection development in the future.

Striving for the Ideal

In one of my classes this week, we spent a lot of time talking about school and public libraries collaborating. What struck me is that schools -- both teachers and school media specialists -- and public librarians have a lot in common. We both want to serve children and teens in our community. We both want to instill a love of reading a learning. There's also so much potential for collaboration and serving patrons in complementary ways. Yet at the same time, there is so much hostility on both sides.

In class, we discussed ways to start relationships between public and school librarians and with teachers to better serve teens in particular. I realized today, however, how intentional librarians -- OK, how intentional I have to be in this. I've been reading articles in preparation for tomorrow's class, and a lot of the articles so far are related to serving teachers by having materials for their professional development. For example, according to Patricia Wilson, "In the ideal situation a professional collection is centrally located in a special facility within the school district, and small collections of professional materials are located within each elementary and secondary school library" (17). My first mental response was, "Alright, but what does that have to do with me in the public library?" My collaboration skills at work, right?

So, what is the public library's role? Perhaps a better question is what could it be? Why not have professional development materials available? What about asking the schools what journals they provide, and buying one or two that the teachers or school media specialist suggests? This could either supplement their materials or be a "second copy" of a very popular journal title. What about being one of the satellite locations of smaller professional collections suggested by Patricia Wilson? After all, teachers are a part of the community too. If that's not reason enough, homeschooling parents would certainly benefit from that collection as well.

Obviously, schools and librarians could do a better job of getting along and working together. Instead of worrying what my role is and trying to define it narrowly as a public librarian, I think it's important to think about the bigger picture. What's the best way I can serve children, teens, adults, and teachers in my community? How can I best accomplish this? Collaboration is an opportunity that shouldn't be overlooked because of my own ego. I need to strive for the ideal instead.

Works cited:
Wilson, Patricia. "Professional Collections in Library Media Centers." Teacher Librarian. 27:5 (2000): 16-21. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Simmons College Library. 18 November 2007. http://0-web.ebscohost.com.library.simmons.edu.

Blog Reading Level

I originally found this through A Chair, a Fireplace, and a Tea Cozy. I'm not sure whether to feel smart or inaccessible.

What Makes a Reader?

The other day, I was talking with my dad about a book I'd taken out of the library. "I may glance at it," he told me, "but I don't really read anymore." I didn't say anything but my internal response was, "Huh?" My dad reads the paper regularly, reads information on the Internet almost daily, and often browses through books that I bring home from the library, even if he doesn't read the whole thing. Oh, and later that day, he started reading through a non-fiction book of mine. Only a few days later, he's over halfway through. While I don't think I've ever seen him read through a novel, he regularly reads.

I've read articles about people downplaying their reading when they don't read "literature," but this was the first time I saw someone do it. I've always considered my family a family of readers, but my dad was discounting the huge amount of reading he does because he doesn't read entire works of fiction. I wonder, if even readers would count up the amount of time and pages they read on books they didn't finish, how much time and how many pages would be represented?

Why do we count a particular type of reading as "real"? Who perpetuates ideas of "real" reading, and what can librarians do to provide services to people in the community who may not use the library because they aren't "readers," when they really are?

Favorites from the Summer

I meant to write more about books I've read, but unfortunately did not have time. School started today, so I'll have much less time to read. I'll post my final installment of summer reading to complete the list another time.

For now, here are some of my favorite of all the books I've read:

The Queen of Attolia and The King of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner. Only going back one day before the semester ended, I could include the first book in the series, The Thief. I spend the first hundred pages of The Thief wondering where the author was going with her story. For the last twenty pages, I was realizing the author's brilliance. I love the political complexity of the imagined world, and Gen is one of my all-time favorite characters. His wit and humor are great. I want to reread these again soon.

The Chronicles of Chrestomanci by Diana Wynne Jones is one of those series that wasn't written in order, so I accidentally read it a bit out of order, though it didn't really matter. Each book stands alone well. These books, and the others I've read by the same author, suit my sense of humor. The world, or more correctly, universes imagined in these stories can be pretty complicated, but it's fun.

Austenland by Shannon Hale. Is this really the same author as The Princess Academy? I'm in awe of her ability to write such different novels so well. Austenland is about a single woman who can't seem to find true love. Why? Well, because boyfriends just don't measure up to Mr. Darcy. You know, the one played by Colin Firth in the 5-hour-long Pride and Prejudice. When her eccentric aunt sends her on vacation to Austenland, she just might be able to find true love -- or at least an actor who's willing to be Mr. Darcy for a few days. This was a really fun, quick read.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, by J. K. Rowling. Though a bit boring in the beginning, I thought this was a fitting end to a fantastic series. I'm debating when I should reread the books in order.

The Looking Glass Wars by Frank Beddor. Probably one of the reasons I enjoyed this reimagining of Alice in Wonderland so much is because I don't really care for the original. In this version, Charles Hodgson got it wrong, and Alice Liddell is really Alyss Heart, princess of Wonderland. Inventive and fun fantasy, and I am looking forward to reading the sequel, Seeing Redd.

The Shakespeare Stealer, by Gary Blackwood is exactly the sort of historical fiction I like -- a believable premise, historical facts presented without changes to suit the story, and a good story that is not overwhelmed with historical facts. I thought this story was a great blend of facts about Shakespeare and theater. A young boy who knows a type of shorthand is sent by his master to steal the play Hamlet.

And lastly, sneaking under the wire is Faeries of Dreamdark: Blackbringer by Laini Taylor. This is the only fantasy I've ever read about a faerie (yeah, it's spelled like that in the book) who travels with crows. Creative yet fully convincing through the details of history and legend in this imagined world, Blackbringer is one of my new favorite books, and was quite a satisfying end to my summer reading.

Unique Among Award Winners

Rereading my last blog post, I started thinking about Alex Awards I have read. My Sister's Keeper, as I mentioned in my comparison with The Floor in the Sky, was a title I did not originally realize was an Alex Award winner. In fact, I first picked it up because some teens who came to talk to one of my classes last semester mentioned that they had read and enjoyed it. The multiple copies in my library are constantly checked out, and My Sister's Keeper remains the only Alex Award winner that a teen recommended to me. Is this just a random anecdotal incident, or are there truly differences between My Sister's Keeper and other Alex titles, like The Floor in the Sky, Never Let Me Go, Anansi Boys, and The Thirteenth Tale?

The difficulty of identifying what makes a book popular is that every reader has a different reason for liking or disliking a story. The Floor in the Sky, for instance, might be more successful in rural areas than the suburbs, and My Sister's Keeper, though popular in my town, will certainly not resonate with every teen. At the same time, I believe there are characteristics that make this novel unique among Alex Award winners I have read.

Here's what comes to mind:

• The book is more of a standout on the shelf. Before a reader cracks the cover, he or she has to notice the book. The title and the cover (two teen girls leaning back-to-back) work well together and look more interesting than, say, a stack of antiquarian books a la The Thirteenth Tale.
• The story is narrated in first-person, present-tense. A first-person narrator is more common in young adult literature, and while this alone is not unique, other stories like The Thirteenth Tale and Never Let Me Go involve an adult looking back on the teen years rather than teens telling their own stories.
• The events of the story have immediate bearing on teen characters. Since the story is the present, not a memory, the events of the story do not explain how the past affected the present but how the present will affect the future. Furthermore, while The Floor in the Sky emphasizes the adult characters' decisions over Lila's, My Sister's Keeper spends equal time exploring adults' and teens' decisions and their complex effects on each other.
• Finally, one of the major themes in My Sister's Keeper in the relationship between independence and dependence in a family. Anna's attempt to be more independent from her parents is central to the plot and resonates with teens who struggle to find a balance with being more independent but not being fully adult.

When it comes down to it, I think, as I've mentioned before, that adults just can't read like kids anymore. I don't mean to denunciate other award winners, because I have enjoyed every book I've mentioned in this post. On the other hand, I think we have a tendency to recommend books we think people should read rather than what really interests them. This is not only true of book lists for children and teens, but for adults as well. There's a marked difference between "best book" lists and best sellers across all age groups. It's too bad we can't often step back and see the good qualities in popular books more often.

Multiple Points of View

Recently, I have read two books that use multiple points of view to tell a story.

The first is The Floor of the Sky by Pamela Carter Joern. This title won an Alex Award for this year. In it, 16-year-old Lila comes to Nebraska to live with her grandmother, Toby, for the summer because she is pregnant. Because of her pregnancy, Lila is becoming estranged from her mother, much like Toby and Lila's mother have been for years. As the summer continues, some of the secrets that have kept each character isolated threaten to completely tear the family apart. The story is told from the perspectives of Toby, her sister Gertie, their neighbor George, and Lila herself. I had trouble with the style for awhile, because each perspective was told by a third person narrator in present tense. What I liked about the story was that the multiple perspectives highlight the isolation of each character, effectively and stylistically emphasizing a theme in this story. I also enjoyed reading about an area of the country I have not read about before, though this was also a troublesome spot for me in that I was originally not sure if the story was historical fiction or present day. Though I liked the story well enough, I personally had trouble relating to most of the characters because they were so much older than me and, by extension, had a very different take on life. As I learned more about the characters, their secrets, and their motives, I was more annoyed with them than understanding.

Personally, I found My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult to be a more successful use of multiple perspectives. This received an Alex Award in 2005, though I didn't know that until after I'd taken it out of the library. Anna Fitzgerald was literally born to save her sister Kate's life. Kate has a rare form of leukemia that she has been fighting since she was 2. Now Anna is 13 and her mother, Sara, asks her to donate a kidney in a last-ditch effort to save Kate. Anna balks and starts a lawsuit to gain medical emancipation from her parents. The story is told by Anna, her brother Jesse, her mother, her father, her lawyer, and her guardian ad litem. Each perspective is in first person, and each voice is distinctive. As I read, I found the story more and more heart-rending as I began to understand what each of the characters had been going through since Kate was young, and why each character had made the decisions he or she did. Though I can't personally relate to the tragedy this family goes through, I could relate to their struggles with love, obligation, choice, independence, and morality. The multiple perspectives begged the question, "What would I have done? Would I have felt differently? Acted differently?" I was able to become emotionally involved in the story, even tearing up at the end.

I generally enjoy stories told from multiple perspectives, because I like understanding each character's thoughts and motivations. Because I had trouble relating to the characters and situation in The Floor of the Sky, the story fell a bit flat for me. I wonder, too, if telling the story in first person would have made a difference. My Sister's Keeper successfully uses multiple perspectives, making me think about each character's actions from various points of view, and forcing me to ask myself if I could have done any better or worse or as well as any of them if I were in a similarly complex situation.