The Horn Book » Early Learning

Early Notes on Early Learning

Roger Sutton — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 18:51:30 +0000

Kitty Flynn, Lolly Robinson, and Martha Parravano discuss what works–and what doesn’t–in picture books for preschoolers.

From Dr. Robert Needlman explaining the difference between babies falling asleep and learning how to go to asleep, through Cambridge librarians Julie Roach and Beth McIntyre coaching us through selecting books for preschool story time to Anna Dewdney using photographs to demonstrate how to transform unpleasant expressions on family members faces into picture book gold, our Fostering Lifelong Learners event yesterday with Reach Out and Read and the Cambridge Public Library was a great success. The day was a little long but I learned a ton, and several attendees told us they got lots of good, practical ideas to use in their libraries and classrooms right away. We’ll be sharing some of the day with you next week, including Anna Dewdney’s inspirational speech, which she is graciously allowing us to publish on hbook.com. Julie Roach and I are already talking about what to do next year.

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Last Friday and this Thursday

Roger Sutton — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 17:16:55 +0000

Boston was certainly an eerie place last Friday. I had gone to bed early the night before, missing all the news about the pursuit of the bombers, and was catching up early Friday morning when the news flashed across my phone that the T was shut down. I texted the Horn Book staff to wait until the trains came back before venturing into work (a moo point–thank you Joey–for most of us) and when it became apparent that that wasn’t going to happen anytime soon, we closed for the day. Poor Betty Carter–she was flying in from Dallas to bring a group of Simmons students into the office for a tour, and she was mid-air when the city decided to shut down. Richard was stuck at the gym; Brownie and I watched the news, whose signal-to noise ratio was even worse than it had been the day of the attacks. But everyone is fine (and Betty at least got to have a lobster roll at the airport before heading back home).

I’ve been getting emails from people wondering if our Fostering Lifelong Learners conference is still happening this Thursday. Of course it is; hasn’t the media been telling you over and over what a hardy city we are? And transportation is unimpeded: the Cambridge Public Library is a five-minute walk from Harvard Square, miles from the still-roped-off Copley Square. If you’re coming via train or inter-city bus, you can catch the Red Line subway from South Station right to Harvard Square. Locals, travel as usual; here’s the Library’s map of its location. See you soon!

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More early learning

Roger Sutton — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 19:11:30 +0000

Jenny Brown and the Center for Children’s Literature at Bank Street are putting on an ECE show of their own next Saturday, April 13th. “Literature for Early Childhood: What Do You Need to Know?” runs from nine to noon and will be keynoted by Horn Book fave Laura Vaccaro Seeger. You can sign up here.

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Building a better board book

Roger Sutton — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 12:54:08 +0000

We’re trying something new this spring. With Reach Out and Read and the Cambridge Public Library, the Horn Book is presenting a one-day conference about books and the youngest readers/listeners/lookers. We thought it would be useful to cross-fertilize our areas of expertise (Reach Out and Read on brain development, CPL on using books with children, the Horn Book on evaluating books) and find out where we think differently and what we–doctors, librarians, teachers–might learn from each other when it comes to early literacy and nurturing the appreciation of books. Each of the organizations will present its side of the story, and the conference keynote is being provided by Dr. Robert Needlman, author of the latest editions of Dr. Spock’s Baby and Child Care.

The conference, held on April 25th at the Cambridge Public Library and sponsored by Penguin, DK, and the Junior Library Guild, invites all professionals in the early-learning community to attend. And it’s free, so you had better sign up now as space is very limited.

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