Read To Me Kits

Hi All –
Just a reminder that you and members can search for these preschool audience kits by putting “Read to me kit” or “Discovery pack” in subject searches. At present, there are over 80 to choose from and each one includes a few books, an AV item, and a “manipulative” (fancy word for educational toy). Members are asked to place holds on no more than 2 at a time. SIRSI, however, does not limit members from placing more holds than 2, so it’s up to us to inform our members when we can. A complete list of these Read To Me Kits in order of theme/concept (like ABCs, Community Helpers, Colors, Counting, Dinosaurs, Number, Senses, etc.) and what each kit contains is on the Children’s Wiki if you care to explore.

Court

Funny Book Prize

Dahl prize, from the UK.

How to search the catalog for Read to Me Kits

The kits are searchable by:
Read to me kit subject and general (keyword) searches (or a call number search in Workflows)
or
Discovery pack title, subject, and general (keyword)

• The title is “Alphabet preschool discovery pack” or “Mother Goose Preschool Discovery Pack” etc.
• Read to me kit shows up as a subject heading.
  

Notice that it is Discovery pack and not Discovery Kit.

Young Virginia Reader's Choice List

If anyone asks you about this list, here's the link to the lists for all age groups.

http://www.vsra.org/VRCindex.html

More on Books for Young People

Go grab the 7/21/08 issue of The New Yorker off the shelf and turn to page 66! Jill Lepore writes about the arrival of Stuart Little and the changing scene (of 80 years ago) for publishing books for kids.

She begins by reminding us that private and public libraries banned children out-right in the 19th century and many librarians shunned light reading, i.e., all novels. Anne Carroll Moore lead one of the first collections for children, at the New York Public Library, at the beginning of the 20th century. From "behind the lions" she formed the core collections of children's librarianship.

One writer she encouraged as he plodded away at a book for kids was E. B. White -- and when he finally finished Stuart Little, she didn't give it her seal of approval! One criticism was that fantasy and reality were too blurred. (Wow, would she dislike much of modern writing for kids!)

If this link to our Gale DB will stay live, read the article online, here. (Or search Gale on your own.)