Judy Freeman

Not just for librarians - should be sitting next to Trelease and just as worn,

I stumbled across this wonderful book while working my way through our library's books about books in search of more wonderful picture books to share with my toddler (who is nearly 19 months). It was mis-shelved in the local branch (took 4 tries for the librarian to find it) and since no one had noticed in the 6 months or so since the book came in, my friendly librarian slapped a due date sticker on it and let me check it out. I found myself immersed in it during the daughter's afternoon nap and checked to see if either of the previous volumes was available to check out. Alas no, although I found a cheap ex-library copy of the previous volume, More Books Kids Will Sit Still For: A Read-Aloud Guide (2nd Edition), which when it arrived looked like it had never been touched. I don't pretend to understand that - I think this is a treasure trove of ideas and books to share with young (and not so young) children. Although it's aimed at elementary educators, there's a huge amount to offer a parent or other caregiver...ideas for activities related to the books as well as related titles.

As the parent of a toddler, I confess that I prefer the overlapping mini-sections by age found in More Books Kids Will Sit Still For: A Read-Aloud Guide (2nd Edition) and Books Kids Will Sit Still For: A Read-Aloud Guide Second Edition (Books Kids Will Sit Still for) because it's easier to sift through a couple hundred titles than 800 for books short enough for a toddler to sit through, but that's more of a quibble, especially since the expanded entries offer so many ideas for making (or keeping) books interesting.… (más)

Judy Freeman has more ideas for using children’s literature than almost anyone we know. So, in this volume, she packs songs, reader’s theatre, great book lists, best professional books, good websites and more to attract a librarian and teacher to make reading fun, exciting, creative, ben beneficial to the literacy program of the school. That is how we view this being used. The teacher librarian as a part of the school’s literacy team infuses not just skills into the language arts program but cares about helping children build a love of literature and creative expression. Used alone, such activities are fun but really pointless if connections are not being made with larger literacy goals in mind and in practice. Highly recommended for teachers and teacher librarians on a quest to move beyond just deadly skills.… (más)