Letters

When children make connections they can love books

In regards to Sharon Grimes's article (May 2004, "The Search for Meaning: How you can boost kids' reading comprehension," pp. 48–52), I have one word to proclaim loud and clear: Amen!

For years, here at Washington Elementary School we dangled books under kids' noses with a frustrating lack of success. Simply immersing at-risk students, learning-support students, ELL students, and even independent readers in books alone does not make them love reading or comprehend better. It is books such as Strategies That Work: Teaching Comprehension to Enhance Understanding (Stenhouse, 2000) by Stephanie Harvey and Anne Goudvis and consultants from Reach Associates that set us straight. To get kids to love reading, you have to teach them how to be readers!

Listening to a story in the classroom or library at Washington is no longer a quiet affair. Hands fly constantly as students share connections and ask questions. Eyes close as everyone tries to visualize text, especially when an author helpfully uses figurative language. Drawing inferences takes more work—second graders don't think it's fair that authors deliberately leave out information.

I can't fathom teaching in any other manner. All library storytimes—kindergarten through fifth grade—are now interactive read-alouds, aimed at drawing my students into thinking as good readers think. Research and note-taking lessons also spiral off from the same reading strategies: determining important ideas, questioning, and making connections.

These strategies have made such an impact on our students that two of my classroom teachers and I shared our lessons and ideas at the Pennsylvania School Librarians Association Convention in April. The 40-some librarians in attendance were very enthusiastic, making us hopeful that more librarians and teachers will start teaching these essential techniques.

--Jill Bateman, Library Teacher, Washington Elementary School, Lancaster, PA

In regard to your editorial (April 2004, "More Pay for Public Librarians," p. 13), we feel that it was grossly unfair to single us out in attempting to make your point. The Prairie Trails Public Library District prides itself on being a "mentoring library." Jennifer Bromann has become a renowned author, in great part, due to the support and flexibility in scheduling allowed her—we recognized her talents and abilities, and supported her in her quest. There are schools that have lower pay scales and would not have accepted Jennifer's time with us when determining her salary schedule position, just as there are public libraries with higher pay scales.

You are correct that she left her position to secure one in the "school arena." Did salary play a role? Of course. Did the fact that she wished to flourish as an author specializing in teens and young adults make a difference? Of course. Could our library have "squeezed" more budget monies toward her salary? Possibly. Although I wish to state that ours was a competitive salary with that of our neighboring public libraries for this just-out-of-school applicant. Could our library have offered her the sole forum of young adults that she excelled in serving? No. Could we offer her summers off and no weekends or evening hours? No. Like all public libraries, we serve all age groups, at all hours of the day, whereas the high school library where she is now employed serves Jennifer's group of choice—teens, in her time frame of choice—days. Her career was taking a new path and she found a job more suited to her special talents.

It should be noted that during Jennifer's final year with us, our library passed a referendum for operating expenses (the monies were received 18 months later). We were also in a building program which allowed us to double the size of our library to 20,000 sq. ft.; half of which is dedicated to serving our youth and young adult populations. We applaud Jennifer on her ascending career and will continue to support all of our staff members and interns in the field of library science.

--Ruth E. Faklis, Director, Prairie Trails Public library district Burbank, IL

In the August 2004 issue, the star for Judy Sierra's Wild about Books (Knopf, 2004), illustrated by Marc Brown, was missing from the review (p. 94). The book did appear on the star page. We apologize for any confusion that this may have caused.