The PaperTigers’ website current (and ongoing!) focus is “literacy,”and to help unpack some of the site’s riches I call attention to a very special book we have reviewed earlier this year, Armando and the Blue Tarp School (Lee & Low, 2007). Written by Edith Hope Fine and Judith Pinkerton Josephson and illustrated by Hernan Sosa, this inspiring story, which has won a 2008 Skipping Stones Honor Award, is based on a teacher’s humanitarian work in the Tijuana garbage dump community. It’s the story of a young boy who is finally able to take some time off his work, picking trash with his father, to attend Señor David’s school.

“I thought schools had walls, floors, and roofs. But Señor David said a school could be anywhere — even on a tarp, in a colonia.”

Literacy and education are basic human rights and, as this book shows well, integral to the betterment of one’s life and of humankind.

Issues of literacy, post-literacy and how words and pictures fit into children’s lives nowadays are frequent topics of discussion in the blogsphere this year, including on our PaperTigers Blog. Since we began blogging some 9 months ago, Marjorie’s Books at Bedtime has been suggesting ways to make reading a vital part of children’s lives. Janet’s The Tiger’s Bookshelf also weighs in on the subject periodically. Readers share their views, and with nary a naysayer to date: it’s not likely that our PaperTigers community would deny the countless benefits of being exposed to books and stories from a very early age!

We can’t teach babies and toddlers language by putting them in front of the TV. Children learn language, and learn to love language, by being spoken with. Words come to have meaning in the context of important relationships (with parents, grandparents, teachers and/or other caring adults.) After a young mind, and (if we are lucky) soul, has been touched in this safe, nurturing context, a love of reading usually follows naturally. Reading aloud to children is a concept most of us espouse. But at the end of the day (quite literally at the end of the day, in many cases), it can be hard to make the time. It is one thing to know the benefits from a daily dose of books and reading and another altogether to see these benefits in action, translated into kids begging to stay up late to finish a book, or to be read “just one more page!” What a joy it is to hear those words! They are a good indicator that a love of language has been born and will keep on manifesting itself into and throughout adulthood.

The CCBC-net listserv’s recent discussion of nostalgia (as a new trend in children’s books) ended up turning, for a few days, into a thread about memories of reading to children and being read to. CCBC librarian Megan Schliesman (quoted here with permission) offers an insight about the apparent change of subject: “I’m struck by how our discussion of nostalgia in books has turned to one in which so many of us are thinking fondly of being read to and of reading to children. I find there is something essentially nostalgic in the idea of gathering around to listen together to a story, but all of us who read aloud also know that it’s an act that transcends nostalgia, which so often places a divide between child and adult. Instead, reading aloud brings together individuals who might be otherwise divided by age or experience or background.”

On the same thread, Megan Lambert, Instructor of Children’s Literature Programs at The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art, mentioned that candid anecdotes about the reading life are just as important as empirical evidence when it comes to the importance of reading. (She is writing a book about this.) “…I recently heard Vivian Gussin Paley speak on the importance of play in the life of the child, and she put out a call for an army of anecdotes about play to counteract the trend toward No Child Left Behind, standardized tests, etc. We need to document the power of reading aloud in this way too. Studies and data and all the rest pointing to how reading aloud creates strong readers are important, but so too are stories that we can all tell about powerful shared reading experiences.”

Absolutely. We all need stories to tell, to listen to, to share. So let the importance of reading in children’s lives be a talking point. One that will continue as long as there are readers and books.

For up-to-date round-ups of articles and blog posts on the subject of reading and literacy, Jen Robinson’s Book Page is the destination. Here’s her latest.

(Image credit: illustration by Elizabeth Gómez, from the book Moony Luna, written by Jorge Argueta.)

Good literature promotes literacy. Reading to children promotes literacy. Promoting a love of books through the example of reading promotes literacy. And sharing a story together, at the end of the day especially, offers a moment of harmony and oasis in family life, which sometimes has to be safe-guarded from the encroachment of action-packed schedules. So all in all, a bedtime story is a win-win scenario, whichever way you look at it!

It can, however, be a daunting prospect for some parents, so today on Books at Bedtime I’d like to focus on two resources which offer parents some tools to help make storytelling a joy for all concerned.

The first is the Storytelling Bibliographies page on The Center for Children’s Books’ website. These booklists encompass stories from all over the world which make great readalouds, arranged by themes such as Phases of the Moon, Tales about Fools, Latino Folktales, Native American Tales… The links to Storytelling Websites offer rich scope and I especially like the process advocated here for using a book as a springboard for someone to tell a story; and for listeners then to extend that storytelling experience. Such activities will lead children to love books and to love words themselves… the next generation of storytellers and writers?

And the other resource is Australian writer Mem Fox reading extracts from her book Reading Magic – her web-page And Do It Like This offers a step-by-step guide to reading stories aloud to children. She also has her 10 Read Aloud Commandments – here’s number 10 :

Please read aloud every day, mums and dads, because you just love being with your child, not because it’s the right thing to do.

And you can hear her putting all these hints and pieces of advice into action herself, reading three of her stories, including her avowed favorite Koala Lou: and she reads them beautifully.

Jon Scieszka (“it rhymes with Fresca”) was declared the first ambassador for Young People’s Literature, today. The position is the children’s book equivalent of the Library of Congress’s poet laureate program. The new role will entail promoting the importance of reading by reaching out to parents, teachers and children everywhere and, in particular, Scieszka says, “to children who are considered reluctant readers.” Author of many children’s books, including the very successful Time Warp Trio series, The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs and Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales, Scieszka is also the founder of Guys Read, a literacy program and website aimed at encouraging boys to read.

What should we expect from a guy whose Little Red Hen questions the presence of the ISBN number in the volume she appears on, and who allows her, later on, to be eaten by the giant from Jack and the Beanstalk?… Well, lots of gutsy energy to impart momentum and backbone to his important mission.

As we come to the end of another year (already?!?), all children’s/ya book blogging eyes will be upon the Cybils 2007 finalists lists, which are due out on January 1st and 7th… what a great way to celebrate all that’s been happening in 2007 and bridge to all we have to look forward to in 2008.

To get ready for the moment we’re waiting for, Bookbuds has issued a challenge and the chance to win a copy of the pop-up Narnia…

There’s still time to catch Pam Coughlan‘s article in the latest The Edge of the Forest, which highlights nominations just asking to be read as bedtime stories …

…and nominations which have featured on PaperTigers this year include:

Shanté Keys and the New Year’s Peas by Gail Piernas-Davenport and illustrated by Marion Eldridge;

Hiromi’s Hands by Lynne Barasch;

Cracker: The Best Dog In Vietnam by Cynthia Kadohata;

Kimchi & Calamari by Rose Kent;

Rickshaw Girl by Mitali Perkins and illustrated by Jamie Hogan;

Artist to Artist: 23 Major Illustrators Talk to Children About Their Art;

The Arrival by Shaun Tan;

Twist: Yoga Poems by Janet S. Wong and illustrated by Julie Paschkis;

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie – well, we’ll be featuring a review in our next update – I’ll put in the link when it’s available…

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…and not forgetting Mama’s Saris by Pooja Makhijani.

So now we wait with baited breath… We were a bit slow on the uptake with our own nominations for the Cybils this year but next year we’ll definitely be jumping on the band-wagon too – though choosing which books to nominate will likely be a struggle!

Before I sign off for this year, I just want to point you in the direction of Jen Robinson’s latest Literacy Round-Up – she highlights some wonderful initiatives in promoting literacy and reading aloud to small children, as well as providing much pause for thought, including Daphne Lee’s article about plans to label books in the UK with recommended age ranges… being based in the UK myself, I can see myself entering the fray there!

So, to all those of you who have supported us since the start of our PaperTigers blog in May this year, and to all those of you who have dropped in since (and maybe this is your first time), we wish you a Very Happy and Book-filled 2008!

November 12-18 celebrates the 88th Children’s Book Week in the United States.

The ability to read and understand complicated information is essential to success in school and in the workplace. So much of today’s information is only available through the written word – in books, newspapers, magazines, the Internet, etc. Unfortunately, the statistics are staggering: analysis of the National Assessment of Educational Progress long-term trend reading assessments reveals that “by age 17, only about 1 in 17 seventeen year olds can read and gain information from specialized text, for example the science section in the local newspaper.”

During Children’s Book Week, parents, educators and caregivers are encouraged to face the challenge and take a stand: children cannot “Rise Up” to this challenge without first developing a love of reading.

A poem by Pam Munõz Ryan is featured on this year’s bookmark. Special publicity displays were created by various illustrators, including Ana Juan and Jon J. Muth. Proceeds from the sale of materials help support CBC‘s literacy efforts.

A thought-provoking article in today’s U.K. newspaper The Daily Telegraph about the correlation between earnings and the time working Mums have to spend reading to their children; and the effect this has on the child’s learning to love books, as well as levels of literacy. Dads only briefly alluded to…

On BBC Radio 4’s Open Book this week, Britain’s new Prime Minister Gordon Brown flagged up Julia Donaldson’s The Snail and the Whale as his top children’s book – and his choice was certainly greeted with approval from the small listeners in the back of my car yesterday. Gordon Brown extolled “the quality of children’s books now and the sheer brilliance of the writing” and talked about his experience as a Dad: “I read bedtime stories but sometimes early morning stories as well, as any parent knows; but I love reading to both my children. One is only ten months and he’s just starting to get a bit interested in what’s there.” Fantastic!

There has been a fair bit of research in recent years into the benefits of Dads reading aloud to their kids – (more…)