As a public librarian, I sometimes feel that school libraries get more attention and kudos than we who work with people of all ages, and from all walks of life. However, I have to admit that more American children will enter a school in their lives than will enter a public library. This is truly disgraceful but I believe that ANY library is better than NO library. So, thanks to the blog at readergirlz, I can ask all my readers to sign a petition demanding that every public school offer a qualified school library program to its students.
If you agree that access to a good library is part of a good education - and it IS! It is! - then please sign the petition here. Please sign this petition. A literate public will surely support all kinds of libraries and that public begins in our schools and our homes. Support school libraries by signing that petition. Here is the link again; http://wh.gov/Wgd .
While we're on the subject of literacy - (and no, I don't know why I can't remove the italics - let's pretend I am doing it on purpose) - in the 1990s, a study discovered that 35% of kindergartners entered school without the skills to be literate learners. That's more than one in every three 5 year-olds!!
Support school libraries with a click. Support public libraries any way you can. Support literacy in children's homes through First Book. Thanks!
Hi Karen
ReplyDeleteIn the current issue of Friends Journal, there is a poem that you might like. It'd called "What the Librarians told the Third Graders" If you don't mind, here it is.
When you read a good book
like the one I finished yesterday
time evaporates so there are
no yesterday to mourn
no tomorrows to dread
or maybe time liquidizes
and you slip through years
decades even centuries like
a sleek trout through
the riffles of Falling Spring
so come over here
to the shelves and pick out
something that will take
you to places you've never been
and times you've never lived in
You have five minutes
by Ken Gibble
Greencastle, Pa
See, this is right up your alley.