Food for Thought...Also Links

Once again, I am working the entire weekend of ComicCon in New Orleans. Dang! And Rob Guillory is going to be there! I wish I could get him to sign my copies of Chew!

If you are there, I'm insanely jealous of you. If you meet Guillory, I'm even more jealous.

I ran across this article today:


The title is misleading. The article describes various school libraries' attempts to create inviting spaces for reading and learning. In fact, it seems all the schools mentioned have placed a decided emphasis on encouraging reading print. 

Still, some of the incorporated ideas seem odd to me - notably, one school's decision (which I think is completely crazybeans) to take all nonfiction books out of the library and place them in classrooms, "leaving the library purely for the discovery and enjoyment of literature." 

What about those kids who enjoy reading nonfiction, or who are interested in learning about a topic not covered in their particular classroom(s)? Do they have access to nonfiction items located in other classrooms? Do we really want to teach kids that libraries are solely for pleasure reading - that their information needs are best met elsewhere? And, let's not forget, boys who are reluctant readers are often hooked by nonfiction reading. 

So, yeah, I'd not take the nonfiction out of the school library - not if you truly want to foster literacy and encourage reading.


Links!

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