The Magic Tree House series is a collection of books by Mary Pope Osborne, each built around a time and place of high interest to young children, with an underlying story that makes children want to read the next book in the series to find out what is going to happen. Here, the authors describe the development of a two-week reading program for…

As advocates for reading, librarians cannot help but love a reading program. In this article, the author talks about the Battle of the Books, a reading enrichment program that had been in place since 1996. Battle of the Books promotes reading among middle school students by offering interesting books and a trivia-type competition. The author…

This manual is a compilation of the bilingual (i.e., English and Spanish) programs sections for the 2001 and 2002 Texas Reading Club manuals. The sections have been combined and organized into chapters according to the age level of their audiences--toddlers, preschoolers, families, elementary school-age children, and young adults. Included are…

The purpose of this manual for the 2003 Texas Reading Club, "Mission Possible: Spy a Book!" is to assist library staff who serve youth by suggesting ideas for programs that will attract children to the library. The following chapters are included: (1) Marketing, Cooperation and PR; (2) Serving Children with Disabilities; (3) Theme Songs;…

This book provides information to help teachers, librarians, and parents establish a book club for the Prekindergarten through eighth-grade school community. The first chapter discusses book club planning, publicity, preparations, process, and acquisition of books. The following 13 chapters suggest books for a variety of subject areas, including…

Co-author of the popular titles "Booktalking Bonanza" and "The Early Literacy Kit", Betsy Diamant-Cohen brings together 18 examples of successful outreach partnerships that children's librarians and administrators can adapt to their own situations. Contributors from the U.S and Canada explain how they partnered with schools,…

"Urban Teens in the Library" is the perfect solution for the concerns and uncertainty many librarians face when supporting this group of patrons and students. From a team of experts who have researched the information habits and preferences of urban teens to build better and more effective school and public library programs, this book will show…

This manual was assembled to help Wisconsin librarians plan summer children's programming based on the theme "Sportacular Summer." Ideas in the manual were submitted by more than 45 Wisconsin librarians and gleaned from similar manuals in 5 other states. All materials have been designed to reflect a spirit of fun and to encourage delight…

Camp Wanna-Read is the theme for the 1991 program for the Texas Reading Club, which centers around the experiences and types of things that happen at summer camp. Each chapter is a type of camp a child might attend such as cooking camp, art camp, music camp, science camp, Indian camp, nature camp, and regular summer camp. The chapters are divided…

This manual, designed to help public libraries in Arizona to plan their summer reading programs for children, celebrates the 25th anniversary of the Arizona Reading Program. The material in the manual is prepared for libraries to adapt for their own uses. Chapters of the manual include: (1) Introductory Materials; (2) Goals, Objectives and…

Designed to help librarians plan a summer reading program, this activity guide presents many activities and organizational suggestions. The first section deals with publicity and public relations, while the second section covers story time activities for toddlers, preschool-kindergarten, first to third grade, fourth to sixth grade, non-graded, and…

Describes a program which was designed to improve the reading skills and broaden the reading interests of fifth grade students. Critical and higher-level thinking skills were stressed in the program, which included a reading list divided by genre and such activities as group discussions and a contest. (MES)

The theme of the 1990 Texas Reading Club, "The Secret Code is READ," allows librarians to use a wide variety of topics dealing with mystery, intrigue, and the unexplained in programming, displays, and reading suggestions. Through the Texas Reading Club, students in grades 2-9 meet real-life and fictional detectives, spies, cops, and…

Once again, this column has been inspired by a recent discussion amongst teacher-librarians. The topic, as it often is, focused on getting kids to read for pleasure when there are so many other choices. This article offers some simple suggestions that school librarians can use to get kids to choose to read over other activities.

Intended to encourage children of all ages to read over the summer, this manual presents library-based programs, crafts, displays, and events with a medieval theme. The chapters of the manual are: (1) Introductory Materials; (2) Goals, Objectives and Evaluation; (3) Getting Started; (4) Common Program Structures; (5) Planning Timeline; (6)…