Shelf Reflection: Children's

Showing posts with label Children's. Show all posts

Monday, February 3, 2014

Library Lover's Month and Children's Author & Illustrator Week

February is Library Lover's Month! This month, celebrate all libraries: public, private, and school. Visit your favorite library in February! We hope it's us!

This month is a great time to come to Kirtland Public Library: it's Winter Reading! Read at least 20 minutes a day and record your times. We'll be celebrating with a Popcorn Party on Friday, February 28 at 3:30 pm. Winter Reading is for everyone who loves libraries.

Are you a Library Lover? Tell us why you love your Library in the comments! Need ideas to show your love for libraries? Here's a few: http://www.librarysupport.net/librarylovers/how.html.

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The first week of February is Children's Author & Illustrator Week. This week we celebrate 2014 Newbery Award Winner Kate DiCamillo for her latest children's novel, Flora & Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures.

Comic book-obsessed Flora saves a squirrel from a vacuum cleaner and helps him develop his super abilities in this cleverly illustrated story.

Kate DiCamillo is known for her earlier books Because of Winn-Dixie (Newbery Medal Honor Book, 2000) and The Tale of Despereaux (Newbery Award Winner, 2003).

She was recently named by the Librarian of Congress as the National Ambassador for Young People's Literature for 2014-2015.

Read Kate DiCamillo's books and find other great authors and illustrators in the Children's department.

Monday, November 25, 2013

Staff Picks...Christmas Books!

I started collecting Christmas books when I was in high school. I have a pretty good sized collection which includes about seven editions of A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, and at least 20 versions of Clement C. Moore’s Night Before Christmas. I won’t bore you with a list of all the books in my collection but I will share some of my favorites.

A Christmas Memory by Truman Capote and illustrated by Beth Peck. “It’s fruitcake time,” says Miss Sook. She and Buddy gather nuts, count their pennies to purchase dried fruit and spices and plan who will receive one of the 30 fruitcakes they lovingly bake. President Roosevelt will, the driver of the 6 o’clook bus from Mobile will, and so will HaHa Jones, the man who sells them the whisky to soak the cakes! Buddy and Miss Sook also decorate their house and make presents for the rest of the family and dream about a wonderful Christmas. Capote is such a wonderful writer and the watercolor illustrations in this edition are just beautiful.

Christmas on Jane Street by Billy Romp. This is the true story of the Romp family. They are Christmas tree farmers in Vermont and spend the month before Christmas living in a small trailer in on the corner of Jane Street and 8^th Avenue in New York City while they sell their trees. They arrive in New York on the day after Thanksgiving and get home just in time for Christmas morning. I love the descriptions of New York City at Christmas and the changing relationship between the father and his daughter. This one is warm and fuzzy and brings back memories of ice skating at Rockefeller Center and the omnipresent aroma of roasting chestnuts.

The Story of Holly and Ivy by Rumer Godden and Illustrated by Barbara Cooney. Ivy, Holly, and Mr. and Mrs. Jones all have one Christmas wish. Ivy, an orphan, wishes for a real home and sets out in search of the grandmother she's sure she can find. Holly, a doll, wishes for a child to bring her to life. And the Joneses wish more than anything for a son or daughter to share their holiday. Can all three wishes come true? A sympathetic boy and a mischievous toy owl make this a terrific story. The illustrations are lovely.

The Cajun Night Before Christmas by “Trosclair” and illustrated by James Rice. Santa comes down the bayou on a pirogue pulled by eight tiny ‘gators! Let the good times roll!

Wombat Divine by Mem Fox and illustrated by Kerry Argent. Wombat loves everything about Christmas especially the Nativity Play. He’s finally old enough for a part, but which part will be just right?

Here are some other Christmas books to try.

For children and their grown ups:

A Pint of Judgment Elizabeth Morrow

Father Christmas by Raymond Briggs

The Bird’s Christmas Carol by Kate Douglas Wiggins

Too Many Tamales by Gary Soto

Christmas in the Barn by Margaret Wise Brown and illustrated by Barbara Cooney

The Year of the Perfect Christmas Tree by Gloria Huston

Christmas in the Trenches by John McCutcheon

A Child’s Christmas in Wales by Dylan Thomas

For grown ups:

Skipping Christmas by John Grisham

A Redbird Christmas by Fannie Flagg

The Christmas Tree by Julie Salamon

Christmas at Eagle Pond by Donald Hall

These are just some of my favorites – what are some of yours? You can get all these books and many, many more at the Kirtland Public Library…Check it out!

Monday, October 14, 2013

What in the World is a Lexile and Why Does My Kid Have One?

What are Lexile measures?

Lexile measures may seem new to you but they have been around for years. Based on over 20 years of research, Lexiles measure a book's difficulty and a reader's ability and use those measures in order to connect students with books that will continue to develop their reading skills.

There are two parts to the Lexile Framework:

1) Lexile measure--a number given to a book and a student. The book's Lexile measure (Lexile value) represents its difficulty. The reader's Lexile measure represents his or her reading ability. Both measures are represented by the letter L. Beginning readers read at about 200L.

2) Lexile scale--The range of readability levels for a reader based on his or her own measure. The entire scale goes from 200L (beginning readers) to over 1300L (high school and beyond). A student's individual scale extends about 50L above and 100L below his or her measure.

For example, a student who has a Lexile measure of 1000L (a typical middle school reading level) should be reading books that have a measure between 900L and 1050L. Anything below 900L will not provide the student with any challenge. Anything above 1050L may be too challenging.

The table below shows where students should be reading by grade level:

Grade	Lexile Measure
1	Up to 300L
2	140L to 500L
3	330L to 700L
4	445L to 810L
5	565L to 910L
6	665L to 1000L
7	735L to 1065L
8	805L to 1100L
9	855L to 1165L
10	905L to 1195L
11 and 12	940L to 1210L

How is a book measured?

Lexile measures are based on word frequency and sentence length, both shown by research to be strong predictors of a book's difficulty. MetaMetrics, the company that certifies Lexile measures, analyzes a book by scanning the entire text and analyzing word frequency and sentence length.

Word frequency is not the number of times a word appears in a book, but rather the frequency of the word in a body of 600 million words used by the Lexile analyzer. The more frequent the word appears in this body, the easier it is for students to comprehend. Rare words and more challenging words do not appear as frequently in the body and contribute to a higher Lexile measure for a book.

Sentence length contributes to a book's difficulty because longer sentences usually contain more clauses which communicate more information and ideas and relationships between them. Longer sentences also require a reader to retain more information in short-term memory leading to better comprehension when reading.

Sentences that use unconventional punctuation or spacing and text structures such as lists, poetry, and charts can affect a Lexile measure. Some books may have high Lexile measures, but their style and structure may not provide the quality of writing needed to increase reading ability. It is important for students who are not beginning readers to regularly read large sections of text (such as chapters) without interruptions from pictures or other stylized writing.

The word frequency and sentence length measures are combined into an algebraic equation resulting in a Lexile measure for a book. Books with longer sentences and words of low frequency result in higher Lexile measures. Books with short sentences and common words have low Lexile measures.

Students should receive their Lexile measure at school. You can find out more about Lexiles and find the Lexile measures of books at lexile.com.

Things to Consider

Lexile measures do not consider a book's content, theme, genre, style or quality. A book may be in a student's Lexile range, but may not interest the student or be comprehended easily. Choosing a book to read is more than just matching up Lexile measures, but they are a good starting point. Students should choose books that interest them but that are also within their Lexile range.

Examples of Popular Titles and Their Lexile Measures