Sunday, November 25, 2012

books


each day at school, i do an advertisement for our students.  i sell.  with kids having long hours of video games and lots of tv and computer time, 
i'm promoting books.  not for money, but reading is work for young children.  
why should they make the effort?  
this beautiful mercantile library of cincinnati has some really old and interesting books.
after 1903 - what?  exactly!  when you've never thought of the question, how can you know you need the answer?  and the early worm.  besides the obvious, what about it?
what can be in a book of no poems,  
and what were the best american short stories of 1941?
what about americans on everest has them pedaling over the hills?
my goal is to give to our students a love of books and reading until they have my problem - so many fascinating books and limited time.  a sense that books are fun, interesting, and enjoyable.  in short, worth the effort.

here's a quote my friend jen found at the writer's almanac.  carl sagan sums it well:

What an astonishing thing a book is. It is a flat object made from a tree with flexible parts, on which are imprinted lots of funny dark squiggles. But one glance at it and you're inside the mind of another person. [...] Writing is perhaps the greatest of human inventions, binding together people who never knew each other, citizens of distant epochs. Books break the shackles of time. Books are proof that humans are capable of working magic.

let's help kids interpret those funny dark squiggles, shall we?

literary beauty.
joy to you!

4 comments:

  1. Love the old books and your words. I truly believe a love is reading is so important. I can't imagine what my life would be like if I didn't love books and reading. Have you heard of booktrust.org? A NFP to bring books to children. I've been meaning to find out more.

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  2. Terrific post, Miss N. It's funny to think of a teacher as a salesman, but that's what you have to be sometimes, isn't it? Selling not just books, but a reading way of life to kids. Good work, my friend. xo (And happy thanksgiving!)

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  3. Beautiful work N! I am so excited when i see kids enjoying reading!
    Tal and Miss S both love reading. And Miss S has just read aloud to be a 40 page book, and she was beaming with pride... xxx

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  4. Well, I'm joining your movement. :) I really hope my children inherit my love of books, as well. I hope by having them see me read all the time, ample visits to the local library, and reading bedtime stories are some memories that will stick with them and inspire them to read. I would be lost without books.
    PS~You can knock on our door and sell to us anytime. ;)
    PPS~Happy {belated} Thanksgiving to you!

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