Todd for Yorkshire Publishing shared his thoughts on reading to children the week on his Ask the Publishing Guru.

He describes why he felt it was important and how it helps establish a love of reading.

The post also discusses potential sources and types of books to consider when you are budget constrained.

It is a quick read, but a nice reminder of the importance of reading to kids.

I have been traveling around the country recently and took the opportunity  to test market “God Loves You So Much…”. This included families reading the book during flight delays and I even gave a few copies away.

In one instance, my flight was delayed and everyone with connecting flights was likely going to miss them. A father with three young girls was scrambling with his iPad and iPhone attempting to arrange a different connection, but the girls kept asking to play with his iPad. I could see he was getting frustrated, so I offered the girls a copy of “God Loves You So Much…” to help distract them.

First, the oldest girl read to the younger two and then they took turns “reading” the book individually. I was glad the book kept their attention as long as it did.

After the father completed his calls, he asked me a few questions about the book and, ironically, they used to live in the same area. We spoke for a few minutes and then he called his wife to inform him of their situation.

While on the phone, he mentioned the book to her and that it was published in Mount Horeb. She must have asked who published the book, because he asked if it was self-published. I responded that it was and he told his wife “Yeah, it’s self-published…anyone can do that.”

Anyone… indeed.

If you have a few minutes and are interested in science, you should check out this YouTube video.  Theodore Gray discusses his “periodic table” table…

and how he recently created an app for the iPad to showcase the elements…

It looks like this app not only showcases the elements, but also the capabilities of the iPad.

Pretty cool.

For those of you not familiar with the interactive capabilities the iPad offers for children’s books, the Alice for the iPad video on YouTube provides a quick glimpse.

The reviews I have seen for the app itself have been underwhelming, but I think the YouTube video does a nice job highlighting the available capabilities.

Have you noticed an increased use of 2D barcodes?

If not, they look something like this…

Basically, they work as follows:

1.) You need a “smart phone” with a camera

2.) You also need to download a (typically free or cheap) reader app 

3.) Then you take a picture of the barcode from your phone, which is processed by the app to direct you to a website with additional information and content about the book

Some sites contain links to the author’s blog, where to buy the book, etc. Others take it a step further with interactive content, promotional videos, games, etc.

It seems like an interesting marketing avenue for authors and publishers, but I am wondering if it is something people will quickly adopt (or if they already have and I just don’t know it).

What do you think? Have you tried accessing content through a 2D barcode? Do you think the additional content and information would help you decide if a book was right for you or the children in your life? Would you even take the time to review it?

I saw an article about a children’s book bank in Oregon a while ago and have been meaning to mention it. What a great idea!

“The Children’s Book Bank — one of only a handful like it in the country — is the brainchild of Danielle Swope, 46, a southwest Portland mom of four who found herself wondering what to do with her kids’ books once they’d outgrown them. She considered donating them to the library or Goodwill, but worried the books wouldn’t end up in the hands of children who really needed them.

So she decided to give them to Head Start programs.

Word spread about Swope’s book donations. Soon, groups and agencies that work with low-income children were calling. “Are you the book lady?” they’d ask.

Swope, a former Teach for America math teacher, said she decided to start a book bank, figuring other parents would be willing to donate their kids’ books. She was quickly overwhelmed; friends, neighbors and even strangers would leave boxes of books on her front steps.”

I would love to hear about other similar programs in other areas. Please drop us a note if you are aware of any others.

I recently saw a list of the 20 best-selling children’s books of all time.

The list included some familiar names, but I was quite surprised by the top-selling book and the differential:

The source cited by the post is Publishers Weekly from 2001, so the data is a bit dated. However, I still thought the results were interesting.

Christopher Healy recently wrote a post on ParentDish titled “The Five Most Overused Children’s Book Plots”.

As I read the post, the tone seemed to be one of a light-hearted satire. The list included:

1. Mommy Animal Tells Baby Animal How Much She Loves Him
2. Child at School Gets Teased for Being Different Until Teacher Tells Everybody How Cool the Odd Child Actually Is
3. Caterpillar Turns into Butterfly
4. Child Doesn’t Want to Go To Bed, Falls Asleep Anyway
5. Seasons Change, Shock Baby Animal”.

The most surprising part of the post were the comments that followed. Initially, some of the comments discussed the humor of the post and how they appreciated it. There were a few comments with more serious  content and then things turned ugly. Those leaving comments were arguing, picking apart other comments, and some individuals even resorted name-calling.

The responses to the post show a passion for children’s books, which I can definitely understand. However, it seems to me this passion should be channeled into more productive and positive behavior.

What do you think? Did those leaving comments cross the line?

I saw a really nice post called “Growing a Reader” by Josie Leavitt on Publisher’s Weekly.

Josie owns a bookstore and tells of a young boy, Finn, who recently visited her store:

“Someone donated three rather large dragon animals to us, and they are a favorite of Finn’s. He sets them up in the three kid-sized chairs in a circle. Then he carefully selects a book for each dragon to read. One dragon was reading a book about dragons, of course, I was told. The other two each had very different books:the red dragon had a fairy tale book and the blue dragon was reading a short truck book. What was so revealing and lovely, was how Finn turned the pages for each dragon, retrieved fallen books and generally wanted to make sure each dragon had a satisfying and rewarding reading experience.”

Josie does a great job with the story and it is a quick read. I think my favorite part is the conclusion Josie draws from the story:

“Finn’s behavior speaks to a household that loves books. He sees both parents, especially his stay at home dad, reading all the time. He is read to constantly. This simple act, sharing a story with a child, has an amazing ripple effect.”

I couldn’t agree more.

The San Francisco Chronicle recently posted on their Baby Blog about reading children’s books aloud.

It is great to see some coverage on the topic, but I think the responses to the post is the best part.

The diverse reading habits of families are interesting and I wonder how some of these traditions and attitudes impact the child’s love of reading (or lack there of).

From “I try to steer away from the ones I hate reading out loud” to “while our daughter was still in utero I read ‘Anne of Green Gables’ to her”  and everything in between.

What about your family? What are/were your reading traditions with your children?