kids
Read On! Friends of the Library
Last week, the Friends of the Pryor Creek Library held their first fundraiser – a murder mystery party where each ticket holder was assigned a character and attended a party in honor of the fictional bed & breakfast, “The Harrison House.” Of course murder ensued and then the guests were tasked with solving the crime. (If you missed this year, they promise to do it again next year, so stay tuned!)
The Friends group has two primary goals: to support the Pryor Public Library and to support increased literacy in Pryor and Mayes County. The Friends group’s primary literacy initiative is enrolling Mayes County children under 5 years old to the Dolly Parton Imagination Library. This program sends age appropriate books through the mail to enrolled children at no cost. It’s a fantastic way to get good books into the homes of children.
Each book is chosen with the child’s age in mind and the inside cover offers suggestions for ways parents and caregivers can interact with their child while reading the book. These suggestions help adults teach young children the vital early literacy skills they need so that they are ready to learn to read when they start school.
When my children were younger, we enrolled them in the Imagination Library. I was pleasantly surprised by the selection of books. I was impressed to see familiar characters (like Llama Llama) and books that were recently published. It was a great program for our family and it seems to be just as beneficial to Mayes County families. In fact, as of this writing, we have 150 readers!
While the program is free for the families enrolled, it does cost the Friends group $25 per child per year (which is an amazing bargain for 12 books). All of the money raised at the murder mystery party will support the Imagination Library program.
Read On! Parental Guidance
A legislator in Missouri is causing quite the kerfuffle in the library world. The proposed “Parental Oversight of Libraries Act” would require public libraries in Missouri to have a board in addition to their regular Board of Trustees to ensure libraries aren’t providing children access to materials the new panels find age-inappropriate. Loss of state funding for the libraries and fines and/or jail time for the librarians are the proposed penalties in this legislation.
There’s a lot to unpack here. There’s a lot wrong with this bill and a lot of good reasons for librarians and library users to be appalled by it. At its core, this legislation fails to understand the relationship public libraries have with parents, guardians, and caregivers. Parental oversight already exists in public libraries. In fact, public libraries rely on parents and caregivers to help the children in their lives choose materials and activities that are appropriate for them and in line with the values of their families.
In Pryor, parents/guardians are required to sign children up for library cards. They also need to grant permission before any minor can access an internet computer. We assume any minor in the building has permission to be there. We also assume that any materials a child wants to check out have been vetted by their parents.
Your library staff would never presume to step between a child and their parent by telling a child they are not allowed to read or watch something because of its content. As a parent, I would have some very serious words coupled with a fairly harsh tone for anyone who tries to override my parenting in such a way. Especially if that interference came from an institution whose role is to provide access to materials and information for a diverse and vibrant community.
Read On! Finding good books for kids
Recently, I had a great conversation with another mom at the library about what books our kids like to read, what restrictions we place on their reading choices, and how we help them find books that make everyone happy. The other mom and I don’t have the same guidelines for our kids’ reading choices, but we both know that the decisions we’ve made work best for our kids and our families and wouldn’t ever try to impose our rules on another family. We do, however, use the same quick research techniques when helping our kids decide what is appropriate for them.
We both like to read the book’s summary, look at the publisher’s intended audience, and try to find any professional reviews we can (I tend not to trust consumer reviews found on sites like Amazon or GoodReads unless there are a lot of reviews).
The Library’s online catalog is a good place to start finding information about a particular book. It will give you a quick summary, reading and interest levels, and subject headings. Most of the books in our collections for young people also have the AR levels and points listed in the catalog too.
For professional reviews, I look at the “Editorial Reviews” section of the book’s Amazon listing. I also chat with Chris from The Book Exchange here in town. He has access to a lot of good resources. If all else fails, I’ll read the book first.
Explaining the guidelines for appropriateness to kids is an essential step in this process. This helps them understand our decisions and it gives them boundaries when making choices for themselves.
There is so much content out there for kids to enjoy, it’s not difficult to find a replacement. The staff at your library is always happy to help you find books that are appropriate for your kids, so let us know how we can help.
Read On! Storytime
We are excited to start another session of programming. Storytime classes resume each Wednesday at 10:30 AM and Teen Night is the first Thursday of each month at 6:30 PM. We also have classes and workshops for grown ups the second Thursday of each month at 6:30 PM.
While none of our classes, events, or workshops is done for pure frivolity – we have specific goals and learning targets for just about every event we put on – our storytime classes are the least frivolous of all library programming. The primary purpose for storytime classes is to help young children learn the early literacy skills that will prepare them for school and get them ready to learn how to read.
To do this, we focus on teaching six specific early literacy skills – print motivation (love of books and reading), print awareness (knowing how books work), letter knowledge (knowing that words are made up of letters), vocabulary (knowing and using lots of different words), phonological awareness (knowing that words are made of different sounds), and narrative skills (being able to retell stories). We also try to model how to teach these skills so that caregivers can continue teaching at home.
The kids in your life are not going to be behind if they don’t make it to storytime each week. In fact, I can count on two hands the number of storytimes I was able to take my kids to. If you’re reading to your kids regularly, you’re probably teaching them all six of these skills without even knowing it. The key to teaching early literacy skills is simply to read to them as often as you can. While you read, ask your kids questions about the story, point to different letters, make up rhymes, talk about the words in the story, and above all else have fun.
If you’re not reading to your kids, it’s never too late to start.