National Book Blitz Month
We’re almost through January and maybe the winter doldrums have set in at your house. The holidays are over; the candles and trees are down and the house looks a bit bare, eh? Perfect time for a book blitz!
Did your young readers get BOOKS for Hanukkah or Christmas? Now is the perfect month and opportunity to haul them out and start reading to and with your young readers!
Did you know that reading from infancy to entry into school is “doctor “recommended?” Well it is; by no less than the American Academy of Pediatrics! Please check out a group called “Reach Out and Read”. Begun more that 25 years ago at a Boston hospital, it incorporated READING as part of the annual health exam and gave books to children at their checkups in addition to discussing the importance of reading, singing and rhyming at early ages with children to encourage literacy.
More and more evidence-based research shows there is a small and quickly closing window to give kids a “jumpstart” on reading and from that, success in school, not to mention a lifetime of pleasure ahead with books. That window is from infancy to entry at school.
In the Reach Out and Read program over 4 million children are being served now at nearly 5,000 program sites in all 50 states. Books are put into babies’ and tots’ hands at their checkups, so they can begin developing their own library of books. Perhaps your own pediatrician is a participant, or may be encouraged to become one.
One of the primary reasons for starting Liz’s Book Snuggery was my firm belief, from my own experience as a parent, that it is vital to give young parents the oft repeated message that reading great picture books to our youngest is the portal to chapter books and everything beyond. It BUILDS sustained attention span that is central to learning to read.
My on again off again foray into weekly story times was proof enough for me. At the beginning of the school year, the three-year-olds are a bit wiggly squiggly during our half hour together. BUT, come January, a mere 5 months down the road, and their attention span had increased to the full half hour! The four and five-year-olds became better still, and a joy to read and listen to, in their unique responses to a story.
January is the time for setting new goals. That said, I also DO remember how hectic life can be with young ones. Exponentially, how that must have increased in the time since I had infants and toddlers, and life was lived pell mell, going 24/7!
BUT, that said, it’s also a finite amount of time we parents have to model to our children that reading is a habit like any other and best begun early as in “Blitz with Books.”
So please make this the month to start! It’s also doctor recommended!
Here are a few suggestions for National Book Blitz Month:
Compile a young readers reading list of favorite or new titles.
Go through your young readers’ books. Perhaps it’s time to either donate or pass along some well read ones and buy new titles to tempt them.
Support a brick and mortar book store and let them select a few titles and you do the same. Tuck in some classic Caldecott winners from the 50’s 60’s and 70’s. You’ll find wonderful picture books with stories that they will love and art and vocabulary to challenge your young reader.
Here’s a list of the Caldecott winners from 1938 on:
- 2018: Wolf in the Snow, by Matthew Cordell (Feiwel and Friends/Macmillan)
- 2017: Radiant Child: The Story of Young Artist Jean-Michel Basquiat by Javaka Steptoe (Little, Brown and Company, a division of Hachette Book Group, Inc.)
- 2016: Finding Winnie: The True Story of the World’s Most Famous Bear, illustrated by Sophie Blackall, written by Lindsay Mattick (Little, Brown/Hachette)
- 2015: The Adventures of Beekle: The Unimaginary Friend by Dan Santat (Little, Brown and Company, a division of Hachette Book Group, Inc.)
- 2014: Locomotive by Brian Floca (Atheneum Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing)
- 2013: This Is Not My Hat by Jon Klassen (Candlewick Press)
- 2012: A Ball for Daisy by Chris Raschka (Schwartz & Wade Books, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books, a division of Random House, Inc.)
- 2011: A Sick Day for Amos McGee, illustrated by Erin E. Stead, written by Philip C. Stead (Neal Porter Books/Roaring Brook Press, an imprint of Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group)
- 2010: The Lion & the Mouse by Jerry Pinkney (Little, Brown and Company)
- 2009: The House in the Night, illustrated by Beth Krommes, written by Susan Marie Swanson (Houghton Mifflin Company)
- 2008: The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick (Scholastic Press, an imprint of Scholastic)
- 2007: Flotsam by David Wiesner (Clarion)
- 2006: The Hello, Goodbye Window, illustrated by Chris Raschka, written by Norton Juster (Michael di Capua/Hyperion)
- 2005: Kitten’s First Full Moon by Kevin Henkes (Greenwillow Books/HarperCollinsPublishers)
- 2004: The Man Who Walked Between the Towers by Mordicai Gerstein (Roaring Brook Press/Millbrook Press)
- 2003: My Friend Rabbit by Eric Rohmann (Roaring Brook Press/Millbrook Press)
- 2002: The Three Pigs by David Wiesner (Clarion/Houghton Mifflin)
- 2001: So You Want to Be President?, illustrated by David Small, written by Judith St. George (Philomel Books)
- 2000: Joseph Had a Little Overcoat by Simms Taback (Viking)
- 1999: Snowflake Bentley, illustrated by Mary Azarian, written by Jacqueline Briggs Martin (Houghton)
- 1998: Rapunzel by Paul O. Zelinsky (Dutton)
- 1997: Golem by David Wisniewski (Clarion)
- 1996: Officer Buckle and Gloria by Peggy Rathmann (Putnam)
- 1995: Smoky Night, illustrated by David Diaz; text: Eve Bunting (Harcourt)
- 1994: Grandfather’s Journey, illustrated by Allen Say; text: edited by Walter Lorraine (Houghton)
- 1993: Mirette on the High Wire by Emily Arnold McCully (Putnam)
- 1992: Tuesday by David Wiesner (Clarion Books)
- 1991: Black and White by David Macaulay (Houghton)
- 1990: Lon Po Po: A Red-Riding Hood Story from China by Ed Young (Philomel)
- 1989: Song and Dance Man, illustrated by Stephen Gammell; text: Karen Ackerman (Knopf)
- 1988: Owl Moon, illustrated by John Schoenherr; text: Jane Yolen (Philomel)
- 1987: Hey, Al, illustrated by Richard Egielski; text: Arthur Yorinks (Farrar)
- 1986: The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg (Houghton)
- 1985: Saint George and the Dragon, illustrated by Trina Schart Hyman; text: retold by Margaret Hodges (Little, Brown)
- 1984: The Glorious Flight: Across the Channel with Louis Bleriot by Alice & Martin Provensen (Viking)
- 1983: Shadow, translated and illustrated by Marcia Brown; original text in French: Blaise Cendrars (Scribner)
- 1982: Jumanji by Chris Van Allsburg (Houghton)
- 1981: Fables by Arnold Lobel (Harper)
- 1980: Ox-Cart Man, illustrated by Barbara Cooney; text: Donald Hall (Viking)
- 1979: The Girl Who Loved Wild Horses by Paul Goble (Bradbury)
- 1978: Noah’s Ark by Peter Spier (Doubleday)
- 1977: Ashanti to Zulu: African Traditions, illustrated by Leo & Diane Dillon; text: Margaret Musgrove (Dial)
- 1976: Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People’s Ears, illustrated by Leo & Diane Dillon; text: retold by Verna Aardema (Dial)
- 1975: Arrow to the Sun by Gerald McDermott (Viking)
- 1974: Duffy and the Devil, illustrated by Margot Zemach; retold by Harve Zemach (Farrar)
- 1973: The Funny Little Woman, illustrated by Blair Lent; text: retold by Arlene Mosel (Dutton)
- 1972: One Fine Day, retold and illustrated by Nonny Hogrogian (Macmillan)
- 1971: A Story A Story, retold and illustrated by Gail E. Haley (Atheneum)
- 1970: Sylvester and the Magic Pebble by William Steig (Windmill Books)
- 1969: The Fool of the World and the Flying Ship, illustrated by Uri Shulevitz; text: retold by Arthur Ransome (Farrar)
- 1968: Drummer Hoff, illustrated by Ed Emberley; text: adapted by Barbara Emberley (Prentice-Hall)
- 1967: Sam, Bangs & Moonshine by Evaline Ness (Holt)
- 1966: Always Room for One More, illustrated by Nonny Hogrogian; text: Sorche Nic Leodhas, pseud. [Leclair Alger] (Holt)
- 1965: May I Bring a Friend?, illustrated by Beni Montresor; text: Beatrice Schenk de Regniers (Atheneum)
- 1964: Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak (Harper)
- 1963: The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats (Viking)
- 1962: Once a Mouse, retold and illustrated by Marcia Brown (Scribner)
- 1961: Baboushka and the Three Kings, illustrated by Nicolas Sidjakov; text: Ruth Robbins (Parnassus)
- 1960: Nine Days to Christmas, illustrated by Marie Hall Ets; text: Marie Hall Ets and Aurora Labastida (Viking)
- 1959: Chanticleer and the Fox, illustrated by Barbara Cooney; text: adapted from Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales by Barbara Cooney (Crowell)
- 1958: Time of Wonder by Robert McCloskey (Viking)
- 1957: A Tree Is Nice, illustrated by Marc Simont; text: Janice Udry (Harper)
- 1956: Frog Went A-Courtin’, illustrated by Feodor Rojankovsky; text: retold by John Langstaff) (Harcourt)
- 1955: Cinderella, or the Little Glass Slipper, illustrated by Marcia Brown; text: translated from Charles Perrault by Marcia Brown (Scribner)
- 1954: Madeline’s Rescue by Ludwig Bemelmans (Viking)
- 1953: The Biggest Bear by Lynd Ward (Houghton)
- 1952: Finders Keepers, illustrated by Nicolas, pseud. (Nicholas Mordvinoff); text: Will, pseud. [William Lipkind] (Harcourt)
- 1951: The Egg Tree by Katherine Milhous (Scribner)
- 1950: Song of the Swallows by Leo Politi (Scribner)
- 1949: The Big Snow by Berta & Elmer Hader (Macmillan)
- 1948: White Snow, Bright Snow, illustrated by Roger Duvoisin; text: Alvin Tresselt (Lothrop)
- 1947: The Little Island, illustrated by Leonard Weisgard; text: Golden MacDonald, pseud. [Margaret Wise Brown] (Doubleday)
- 1946: The Rooster Crows by Maud & Miska Petersham (Macmillan)
- 1945: Prayer for a Child, illustrated by Elizabeth Orton Jones; text: Rachel Field (Macmillan)
- 1944: Many Moons, illustrated by Louis Slobodkin; text: James Thurber (Harcourt)
- 1943: The Little House by Virginia Lee Burton (Houghton)
- 1942: Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey (Viking)
- 1941: They Were Strong and Good , by Robert Lawson (Viking)
- 1940: Abraham Lincoln by Ingri & Edgar Parin d’Aulaire (Doubleday)
- 1939: Mei Li by Thomas Handforth (Doubleday)
- 1938: Animals of the Bible, A Picture Book, illustrated by Dorothy P. Lathrop; text: selected by Helen Dean Fish (Lippincott)
PDF version of Medal Winners, 1938 to Present [121 kb]
http://www.reachoutandread.org/
