Mystery award winners

The 63rd annual Edgar Awards were given out on April 30 by the Mystery Writers of America. The award for Best Juvenile title went to The Postcard by Tony Abbott, and the prize for Best Young Adult title went to Paper Towns by John Green.

Reading to your kids helps them become better readers

The benefits of reading aloud to your children are impossible to list. Studies continue to show that caregivers who share books with their children give their kids a headstart on reading. This article, published about a year ago on sciencedaily.com, points out that not only is reading important, but how you read makes a difference.

Middle class parents tend to use a more interactive style, making connections to the child's own experience or real world, explaining new words and the motivations of the characters, while working class parents tend to focus more on labelling and describing pictures. These differences in reading styles can impact on children's development of language and literacy-related skills.

Asking children questions to help ensure they understand what is being read and explained to them is also extremely beneficial.

Practice dialogic reading with your preschooler. This is a method of reading in which the child, who cannot yet read, becomes the storyteller. Learn more about how to do this here.

Publisher to sell "Eragon" companion

Publishers Weekly, 5/20/2009

This fall, Knopf Books for Young Readers will publish Christopher Paolini’s Eragon’s Guide to Alagaësia, a novelty gift book tie-in to the author’s bestselling Inheritance cycle novels. The book...goes on sale November 3. Framed as a gift from Eragon to the reader, the book will feature illustrated spreads of the landscape and inhabitants of Alagaësia and will include paper engineering and other interactive elements.

"Eragon’s Guide to Alagaësia will take readers deeper into the captivating world Christopher created, offering a visual perspective of the novels that millions of readers across the world have come to love," said Knopf publishing director Nancy Hinkel in announcing the book. Paolini’s Inheritance cycle (consisting of Eragon, Eldest and Brisingr) has sold more than 22 million copies worldwide. The author is working on the fourth and final Inheritance book; a publication date has not yet been announced.

Oh my darlin' "Clementine"!

From PW Children's Bookshelf, May 28, 2009:

Disney-Hyperion has signed up three more chapter books in the Clementine series by Sara Pennypacker, illustrated by Marla Frazee. Clementine: Friend of the Week, the fourth book in the series, will be published in summer 2010, with a new book following each subsequent summer.

Hooray!

Supporting your child's summer reading

A recent article in the Pioneer Press offers parents advice for supporting their children's summer reading. Tips include ideas such as:

- Playing board games together

- Reading aloud to your kids

- Putting junk mail to good use

- ...and more!!

Recent study finds children use language less when tv is on

A key excerpt from an article regarding a recent research study on children, language, and television:

"Audible television clearly reduces speech for both infants and their caregivers within the home, and this is potentially harmful for babies’ development. There is simply nothing better for early childhood language acquisition than the spoken and imitated words of caregivers, and every word counts. Television is not only a poor caregiver substitute, but it actually reduces the number of language sounds and words babies hear, vocalize and therefore learn," said lead researcher Dimitri Christakis.

Baby Talk Is Important to Early Literacy

"...There’s one thing that’s so easy parents can do it any time, any place — for free — and [babies] will love it: Talk to them and give their fledgling words your full attention."

That's the crux of a recent article published in The Vancouver Sun, reminding parents that even though they might not understand what their babies are saying, it is important to listen and respond.

It also reminds parents to share nursery rhymes with babies and toddlers. Knowledge of nursery rhymes has a strong relation to early reading and spelling success. So, check out some Mother Goose books from the library, and chant or sing or simply read them with your little one.