Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

In the age of Social Media it seems easier than ever for individuals to pressure schools to take certain materials off the shelves of their libraries and out of their curriculum. Teen author Chris Crutcher has written on his blog about several examples of his materials being challenged.

Banned Books Week is a fantastic opportunity to discuss with your students about the ramifications of censorship. Why are certain books targeted? Who should determine what writings students have the opportunity to read? Why do we so frequently allow the loudest voices to win the argument?

The American Library Association say on it’s Banned Books Week web page:

Intellectual freedom—the freedom to access information and express ideas, even if the information and ideas might be considered unorthodox or unpopular—provides the foundation for Banned Books Week. BBW stresses the importance of ensuring the availability of unorthodox or unpopular viewpoints for all who wish to read and access them.

Check out the resources, discussion ideas, and lists of banned books on the ALA website. Perhaps you will want to join the discussion or create a display in your library to get your patrons thinking about this topic.

Encourage Your Teens to Vote Aug. 15 to Sept. 15
By Amy Fiske, Teens’ Top Ten committee

Teens’ Top Ten is all about teen choice! Get your teen readers to vote for their favorite books from this year’s list of 25 nominated titles. The resulting Teens’ Top Ten will be announced during Teen Read Week. The nominated books are posted at www.ala.org/teenstopten, where you’ll find an annotated nominations list as well as tips for promoting the Teens’ Top Ten to teen readers. Please help us get the word out!

The Teens’ Top Ten is part of an ongoing project that connects teen book groups with publishers of young adult books. The publishers provide advance reader copies to selected teen book groups and the teens evaluate the books and provide feedback to the publishers. These same teen book groups create the voting list for Teens’ Top Ten by nominating their favorite titles published in the previous year.

More information, including a list of the rock star Teens’ Top Ten book groups, may be found at www.ala.org/teenstopten.

From Jumpstart’s website,

On October 6, 2011, more than 2 million voices will call for an end to America’s early education achievement gap by reading Llama Llama Red Pajama by Anna Dewdney – setting a world record in the process! Sit down to read in your community.You’ll be standing up for children everywhere!

To track participation, Jumpstart encourages participants to pledge to read by filling out an online form, and then record and submit the number of children that you read to that day.

Your library can participate by including Llama Llama Red Pajama in your storytimes that day, or by having a special reading of the book throughout the day. Children and parents will have fun being part of a day when more than 2 million people read the same book and helping to reach the goal of breaking a world record in the process!

We are fortunate to have the Salt Lake Community College Community Writing Center as a partner this year. They will host a two-day workshop to help youth in 4th-12th grades to develop a reflective, personal letter to any author that explains how that author’s book inspired a change in the student’s life. The workshop will take place on October 8 and 15, 1-3 pm both days. Register by contacting the Community Writing Center at 801-957-2192.

Information packets should be available in early September and contest entries are due by January 6, 2012.

More information will be posted when it is available!

The gist of the program was that while access to computers remains spotty across socio-economic backgrounds, practically every teen has access to a mobile devices. One of the teens mentioned that the iPad is the “most desired” devices for every teen. The Nassau County Library (New York state) has developed a teen reads app that was clean and simple, but still useful.

It got me thinking that this is probably the best way libraries could reach out to teens. Creating useful apps and resources that will be used by teens outside of the library, but will still connect teens with libraries. However, as I’ve seen mentioned several times recently (at ALA and in other online content I’ve read), libraries don’t seem to be embracing the app. This is a challenge we should embrace and figure out.

Children: Dig Into Reading

Teen: Beneath the Surface

Adult: Groundbreaking Reads

The slogans are determined two years early to help the people who create the Summer Reading Manuals prepare them well in advance of the actual program.

We also determined the general theme for 2014: “Science“. Of course, the slogans for Science will be determined next year.

“Our current understanding of early language and literacy development has provided new ways of helping children learn to talk, read, and write. But it does not advocate ‘the teaching of reading’ to younger and younger children. Formal instruction which pushes infants and toddlers to achieve adult models of literacy (i.e., the actual reading and writing of words) is not developmentally appropriate. Early literacy theory emphasized the more natural unfolding of skills through the enjoyment of books, the importance of positive interactions between young children and adults, and the critical role of literacy-rich experiences. Formal instruction to require young children who are not developmentally ready to read is counter productive and potentially damaging to children, who may begin to associate reading and books with failure.”

As a children’s librarian, I saw fairly often parents pushing their very young children to read. There is such a pressure for children to succeed and get ahead that some parents feel like their child is behind if they aren’t ahead. It’s worth remembering, and even reminding, that literacy is a process and children will begin to read when they are ready. It’s also important to stress that the relationship the child has with the people who he or she cares about the most (including the literacy relationship) has the greatest effect on when the child begins to read and the success he or she will have. In the meantime, use and teach the six skills: Print Motivation, Vocabulary, Print Awareness, Narrative Skills, Letter Knowledge, and Phonological Awareness.

If you are interested in adding a math component to your Summer Reading Program, Storytime, or other programming, check out Mixing in Math. This website has lots of ideas and materials written in English and Spanish to incorporate into your children’s and teen programming. There is also a content chart that can help you plan programs around specific math principles.