RSS Feed
Print Story
E-mail Story
'My First Library'
The Californian wants to help kids collect books and enjoy reading
| Saturday, Sep 30 2006 5:35 PM
Last Updated: Saturday, Sep 30 2006 5:39 PM
When someone asked a classroom full of Bakersfield first-graders how many have a shelf of their own books at home, several hands shot up. Several others didn't.
BAKERSFIELD.COM HOT TOPICS:
Loading Stories
Advertisement
It's the students in the second group who worry Noble School principal Juanita Sanchez.
"Many kids are lacking in the experience of having their own books at home," Sanchez said. "So they don't have as much opportunity to read recreationally and independently."
Youngsters who aren't exposed to the joys of reading at home come to school with a built-in disadvantage, teachers say. It's a handicap that can last a lifetime.
One remedy is to place age-appropriate books into the hands and homes of students who might not otherwise have that literary luxury.
Welcome to "My First Library," a new initiative organized by The Californian to involve the community in helping local elementary and middle school students begin their own home library.
"During the summer, we asked our readers to donate school supplies for kids who otherwise might have gone to school empty-handed," said Californian Publisher Ginger Moorhouse. "People in the community responded with amazing generosity. We hope they will again."
Many families have books their children have outgrown, Moorhouse said. Many of those books -- if they are in good condition -- could find a second life in the homes of less fortunate children.
Other donors may be willing to purchase new books to donate to the "My First Library" book drive.
Changing the habits of families and children who rarely read at home is no easy feat. But it's a cycle worth breaking, educators say.
Some students, for example, may have parents who don't read much or speak much English, said Noble School first-grade teacher Carolyn Zollinger. Other children live with parents who simply haven't developed the habit of reading at home for pleasure or for information gathering.
Parents must understand that if their children are not reading their own books at home, they're likely to fall behind other students in vocabulary development, writing skills and even the development of cognitive functions and critical thinking skills.
"It makes it harder to catch up with the other kids," Zollinger said.
For children, it's critical that they read at school and at home -- until it becomes second nature, said Sandra Yoon, coordinator of library media services for the Bakersfield City School District.
"If reading is hard, it's not fun," she said. And the way to make it easy is to have kids reading early and often.
On a recent weekday, Zollinger's first-graders seemed virtually enchanted as Yoon sat in the classroom's "reading chair" and read aloud from the children's book, "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie."
It became immediately apparent that the students love that book. At Yoon's prompting, they answered questions about the characters and the plot. And when Yoon accidentally skipped a page, they knew it before she did.
The "My First Library" book drive begins Monday.
Donate new or gently used children's books at The Californian's downtown lobby during the month of October.
The books will be delivered to Yoon, who will sort them for age-appropriate content and distribute them to schools where children can benefit. Books for preschoolers will be sent home with students who have younger siblings.
Noble School has some 17,000 books in its library, and students check them out every day, said library clerk Mary Anderson. But it's not the same as having books of your own.
"I would say 90 percent of our students have never been to a Barnes & Noble or a Russo's," Principal Sanchez said.
Maybe donors can bring the book stores to them.