from The Telegraph March 6, 2017

A Guide For the Childe and Youth, 1667

Research has shown that phonics can boost children’s reading age by an average of 28 months by the time they turn seven.

"The book offers a fascinating insight into the education and reading of young people in the 17th century," said Dr Nick Seager, a senior lecturer in English at Keele. The book was published when schools were predominately the preserve of the rich and many poorer parents educated their children at home.

Dr Seager said: "Parents could use this book with their children and children could also read it themselves. The idea of printing a book exclusively for children was new. It was also a period when books were just starting to be acquired by middle-class readers. Previously, they were the domain of the aristocracy."

For the very early learners, the guide has an illustrated alphabet, with rhymes to help young learners remember each letter. The letter 'C', for example, is partnered with a wood-cut picture of a cat playing a fiddle to dancing mice. 'D' is an action shot of how "the dog will bite a thief at night". Then 'F' is "the idle fool is whipt at school".

The copy at Keele contains the handwritten notes of its previous owners, Mary Berks and Ann Berks from Newcastle under Lyme, Staffordshire, from around 1776. 

The University of Keele is a public research university located near Staffordshire, England.

In a feature article by Porter Anderson in Publishing Perspectives, February 3, 2017, subtitled: 

Insights From the US, UK, India and Australia

With new attention to diversity issues, Scholastic’s sixth biennial survey adds an Australian edition, and looks extensively on reading aloud at home. The main page for the new report online, offers the American study in six areas:

• Key findings;
• What kids and parents want in children’s books;
• Reading books for fun;
• Reading aloud;
• Summer reading; and
• Favorite children’s books.

This page offers a helpful set of direct access links to those various parts of the study.  Among some of the most interesting elements this time are comparative statistics on Hispanic and African-American readers and families in the American section.

And here, we can only touch on a few highlights from the report, but urge you to take advantage of its availability and give it a look.

March 8, 2017 featured article in Publishing Perspectives, by Porter Anderson

Called Type & Tell, Bonnier’s new self-publishing platform has been quietly tested in Sweden since September 2015. Its English edition launches during London Book Fair.

Some publishing corporations have acquired existing self-publishing services—as in Macmillan’s purchase last year of Pronoun in the States. Bonnier’s team has created its own self-publishing platform with interesting distinctions.

Led by Bonnier Books Ventures chief Rebecka Leffler, Type & Tell’s initial Swedish site has been quietly growing longer than you may think, since autumn 2015. The English edition of the site is launching during LBF, and you’ll find the Type & Tell stand at 1F50E.

And on the Swedish site, we get a sense for an interesting conceptual basis for the platform, as we read:

“We live in a country where freedom of expression is every individual’s right. But what is the state of press freedom?

“Anyone can publish a book? According to us, yes!…The time when only a handful of publishers decided what we read and what stories reached us is past.

“It’s time to open the floodgates for all the hidden stories out there. Now we are democratizing literature.”

  "Children's Books" is one of the popular topics to browse on the international Publishing Perspective website.

A letter you will want to read 

This letter, published on March 7, 2017, is a part of Egon Zehnder's Leaders and Daughters campaign to collectively inspire, cultivate and pave a better future for the next generation of female leaders. To see more letters or contribute your own, please visit www.leadersanddaughters.com. 

Dear Sommer and Angelina:

Hopefully you won't read anything in this letter that you haven't already heard from me many times before. I've always tried to lead by example when we are together, so I will do the same in this letter by reminding you of a few thoughts that will help you navigate your incredible life journey ahead: Always be present, read the signs, stay in your lane and never back up more than you have to.

From the workshop of Marilyn Scott-Waters, who shares freely! 

Welcome to my odd, little world of paper toys, holiday cards, valentines, sun boxes,

baskets and bags, origami and ephemera... all for you to make.

My goal is to help grownups and kids spend time together making things.

It is my wish to amuse and delight.

Enjoy,

Click on a flag to translate this website.

by Janni Wallin

by Kathleen Massa

I am writing this unit because of the desperate need for more oral language instruction. Today more than ever students are coming into school with insufficient language knowledge. Our students’ oral language skills are not developed enough to support the curriculum and objectives we teachers are pushing so hard. They require formal language instruction before they can be expected to become fluent readers, writers, and thinkers.

This unit is a focused, intensive unit on storytelling. Storytelling is the strategy I use to help obtain oral language proficiency among second language learners and students with deficient language skills. Storytelling gives the students the daily practice they need in order to advance their language skills. This unit will help the students understand how telling stories and story structure enable them to express themselves more clearly. The students will also learn through storytelling that their ability to listen to others will increase, expanding both their vocabulary, knowledge base and sentence structure.

Because this unit is focused on second language learners, my partner teacher who teaches the Spanish component will be working with the students who are learning Spanish as their second language, while I am working with the students who are learning English as their second language.

Contents of Curriculum Unit 08.02.01:  Four Weeks of Daily Lesson Plans

• Preface
• Background
• Oral Language
• Storytelling
• Goals and Objectives
• Strategies
• Connecticut Literacy Standards
• Resources

One of the most stimulating and enjoyable ways of exploring ourselves and people of differing backgrounds is through folktales. Nowhere else can we find the insight and understanding that tales invariably provide for us. The title of this unit suggests that folktales are a mirror. When we look inside of this mirror we see ourselves; who we are, who we have been. The recurring themes and motifs that are in stories passed along through the oral tradition are not there coincidentally. They are there because they are among the primary concerns and preoccupations we have as human beings. As a teacher and storyteller, I have found in folktales a clearer sense of my self worth and an understanding of others. I have seen my personal hopes and fears mirrored in stories from many cultures. I appreciate more the common ground upon which we all stand as human beings.

My goal is to provide for teachers and students a similar path of discovery. This unit gives order to that process. The first section discusses and defines the function of folktales, emphasizing how they reflect the collective nature of our human psyche and consciousness. Next, I give strategies for preparing and acclimating your class to storytelling and folktales. I have included ideas of how you, as a teacher and beginning storyteller, might approach storytelling yourself. The unit schedule suggests a time table you may want to follow as you explore the folktales in the next section. Here, I discuss the function of tales within the West African, Haitian, and African American traditions. From each of these cultures I have selected at least two stories to explore in detail.

Throughout the unit you will find an array of activities and exercises that relate to the stories and goals presented. It is my hope that, upon completing this unit, both teacher and student will have rediscovered the value of the oral tradition and that all will have had ample opportunity to participate by collecting and telling their own folktales!

(Recommended for Drama/Theater, Language Arts, Social Studies, and English; Grades 4-8)

Contents of Curriculum Unit 93.02.02 by Synia Carroll -McQuillan

• Introductory Discussion
• Strategies
• Unit Schedule
• The Stories
• Stories From The African Tradition
• Anansi And Osun The Elephant (Anansi Goes Hunting) - Prep Activities
• Anansi And The Hat Shaking Dance - Prep Activities
• A Bad Habit - Prep Activities
• Haitian Folktales
• Cat’s Baptism - Prep Activities
• The Name - Prep Activities
• African American Folktales
• He Lion - Prep Activities
• Appendix A
• The Talking Cooter - Prep Activities
• Appendix B

Get ready for Indie Author Fringe!

Have you heard about the Indie Author Fringe, organized by the Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLi)? This is a free, online global conference for authors, run fringe to the major book fairs: London, BEA & Frankfurt Bookfairs, broadcasting 24 sessions of author education over 24 continuous hours, so that authors around the world attend some live sessions, no matter where they’re located. There are also competitions, giveaways and discounts, contributed by sponsors.

• Baroness Gail Rebuck, DBE is chair of Quick Reads and Penguin Random House UK

 By Baroness Gail Rebuck, DBE