This year's Great Books guest speaker was Bruce Coville. He was very entertaining, inspirational and thought provoking. He talked about putting the joy back into children's literature;how librarians can help by encouraging children to read and write, keeping a journal and how important it is for men to read to children. He spoke of his love for children and his elementary teaching years. He's a wonderful storyteller. He told two stories-"Prince of Butterflies" and "The Great Debate". I was very interested to hear him say we have to put back the spirituality in our children and their culture. He pointed out how the media destroys children. How we make reading so important the first 18yrs and then take it away when the kids get to college.
He emphasized the gender gap in reading. How boys are taught by women to read, but very few male role models read to them. This should be changed. We need more male teachers at the elementary level.
My three breakout groups were excellent. My favorite was the historical fiction- Kids session. We all enjoyed Peak -Roland Smith. It’s so good to be in a group where everyone enjoys the same genre. Other books in this group were Close to the Wind: The Beaufort Scale, Iron Thunder: The Battle between the Monitor & the Merrimac by Avi and Night of the Howling Dogs by Salisbury.
My Teens book session included Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac, Re-gifters, Rucker Park Setup and Dramarama. Re-gifters is a good graphic novel for teens, with a Korean girl as the main character. Finally the picture books were The Golden Rule- Cooper, Help! A Story of Friendship- Keller, This Is Just To Say-Sidman, Nothing But Trouble-Stauffacher and My Friend is Sad and Today I will Fly-Williams.
Attending this workshop helps me keep abreast of current children’s and YA literature so I can do readers advisory at more age levels. I enjoy the open discussion in the breakout groups and hearing different opinions. I have suggested titles for us to buy from attending the Great Books Workshop.
Ginger Wilson, Twinbrook
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