Wednesday, July 2, 2003

Emails and Net Replace Books for British Children "Secondary school pupils in Britain spend less time reading than almost any others in the world, according to a study published yesterday. However, they do well in international literacy tests for 15-year-olds because they spend more time browsing through magazines, e-mails and websites - and enjoy it more than reading books. An international study of test results for 43 different countries by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development revealed only four countries in the world had a lower percentage of girls reading for two hours a day or more. The UK figure was 3.5 per cent. " From an article in The Independent online, via LISNews.com. The OECD study strikes again. It's always fascinating to see what reporters pick out to highlight from a study like this. In this case, it's that reading email can take the place of reading books in developing literacy. Excuse me? I'm interested to see how much time British students spend with magazines -- something I've been thinking about in terms of our library. Since our high school students seem to have little interest and no time for pleasure reading of books, maybe we should be putting more money into subscriptions of current high-interest periodicals, rather than dropping hard-copy subscriptions because so many titles are available online. 9:28:23 PM    comment []

First Lady Flap Booksellers cranky over Laura B.'s CBS Early Readers Club. Booksellers were initially pleased with the team-up of First Lady Laura Bush and CBS to create a series focusing on literacy and children's literature on the network's Early Show. Host Harry Smith joins Mrs. B once a week at the White House, where a specific title is featured and read. Nice, eh? Nice if you're Amazon.com, where viewers are urged to visit and donate books to literacy efforts. Monica Holmes, President of the Association of Booksellers for Children, wrote to CBS, expressing her dismay over the exclusive promotion of Amazon.com. The sting was made sharper after the inaugural book, Book! Book! Book! featured on the June 25 segment, was returned by a Bush staffer to the independent bookstore where it was purchased. Apparently, the White House had a difficult time tracking down the 2001 title, but found it at the Alexandria, VA bookstore, A Likely Story. The store issued credit, but wondered why the White House didn't donate the gently used book to a library. More here from Publishers Weekly [LISNews.com] 7:19:48 AM    comment []

Movie to Books From Harry Potter to Agent Sawyer. Reading "Soon the movie the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen will be released. I'm looking forward to seeing it. The graphic novels are a natural tie in. However, the characters are drawn from Poe, Haggard, Verne, Wells and other similar writers. It might be possible to encourage reading these authors. These are books young guys could enjoy. Here is an chance to get them reading. Are any libraries planning to take advantage of this opportunity?" [ Catalogablog ] An excellent opportunity! Sounds perfect for a teen book club, blog, etc. Too bad 20th Century Fox didn't think to collaborate with libraries on this. Heck, the official site doesn't even mention the books, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised.... [The Shifted Librarian] Thanks to my blogging colleagues, for mentioning this. I'll look forward to seeing the movie and following up with kids in the library. 6:50:12 AM    comment []

© Copyright 2003 Deborah Wells-Clinton. Last update: 8/18/03; 7:36:57.