MotherReader

President Obama read to children at the White House Easter event like a real storytime professional. In reading Where the Wild Things Are, he howled the terrible howl and showed the terrible claws. And he responded like a champ to the kid — and there’s one in every storytime — saying, “I can’t see!”


(Thanks to Lessons from the Tortoise and Well-Read Child for the links. You made my day.)

On Tuesday, I literally jumped up and cheered upon hearing this part of President Obama’s Adresss to Congress:

These education policies will open the doors of opportunity for our children, but it is up to us to ensure they walk through them. In the end, there is no program or policy that can substitute for a parent, for a mother or father who will attend those parent-teacher conferences, or help with homework, or turn off the TV, put away the video games, read to their child.

Yes! It fits in wonderfully with the concept of Share a Story, Shape a Future. The initiative looks wonderful, and I hope to play a part in some way when it hits the KidLitosphere come March. I kind of missed the boat when I lost the messages in my overstuffed email box.

Through a perhaps ridiculously diligent process, I was able to bring my emails down to 1300 from 3447 on a first-look, barely skimming, toss-the-trash weeding. I also moved groups of emails to folders because they will be easier to deal with at one time rather than as I come across them. My husband did something techie to my computer that appears to be helping, and I also found that I was having more luck using my daughter’s computer account. I’m going to keep plugging at it because those extra emails are simply computer clutter.

Speaking of clutter, an article in School Library Journal talks about cluttered houses in terms of their impact on early literacy. This is gonna hurt...

Household order — characterized by regular bedtime routines, mealtimes, and chores, as well as cleanliness and being able to stay on top of things — has a positive effect on a range of early reading abilities, the report says.

Well, so much for that. Thanks to Charlotte’s Library for pointing it out, and making me laugh with her own experience.

Another shared experience caught my attention this morning as Maw Books asks for the most horrific way you’ve ever ruined a book. She already has thirty responses, and yes, one of them is mine. And no, I’m not proud.

I had to assume that she was talking about accidental book disfigurement, because otherwise I’m in real trouble with my new hobby of book altering. The one week I had few school activities and few scheduled work days, I wasted with a box of old schoolbooks and an Exacto knife. I had a lot of fun though, and I think it released some of the mental pressure I was feeling with booking the KidLitosphere Conference...

Which is now, officially, set for the weekend of October 16th–18th at the Sheraton Crystal City Hotel! I’m sending in the contract today, so it’s too early to book your room, but I’ll let you know. I can tell you that the rate is $109 per night, the conference cost should be around $100 with a breakfast and dinner for Saturday included. As we’ve done in the past, Friday will feature a dinnertime outing to some local place for whomever can come. Saturday will be the conference and dinner. Sunday will be some Washington, DC, adventure — to be determined. I’ll be working on session ideas and maybe even speakers...

Like this guy, my dream speaker. Because if you’re going to dream, dream big. I forgot how much I enjoyed his videos because they aren’t on my feed, but fortunately Bookshelves of Doom reminded me with this one:


Edited to add: For more videos, podcasts, and regular old posts, don’t miss the newest Carnival of Children’s Literature. It rocks!

I’m not going to take long on the Obama thing, but I have to mention the three references to reading or children’s books in the informercial last night. Yes, three.

In a speech segment Barack says, “No government program can turn off the TV set or put away the video games or read to your children.” The emphasis was his, as well as mine.

Then Michelle Obama talks about how Barack has his thing that he does with each of his daughters, “and for Malia it was reading through every single Harry Potter book, and they got through all of them.”

Then the segment about the family in Kentucky starts with showing the dad reading a bedtime story to his little girl.

Not bad for books and reading, huh?

(Okay, I have to add something. I went to find the video where Michelle and Barack talk at a party about reading Harry Potter, which I found. But it led to another video titled — I kid you not — “Barack Obama Reads Witchcraft to His Children.” You have to laugh, right? The video features Michelle talking about Barack reading the books, but starts with a text statement, “Does Barack Obama oppose Harry Potter like most Christian parents?” Most Christian parents? Really? So I suppose that the huge Pottermania that has spurred on the children’s book industry for almost ten years can all be credited to Jews. You’re welcome.)

I just got back from an Obama event. What a rush. It was a town meeting held here in Northern Virginia, and I brought my two daughters. Unfortunately, I did not bring my camera, to my now crushing disappointment. I left it home because it doesn’t take decent pictures when you are far away from the subject. However, when you are so close to the subject that you could toss a Nerf ball to him... well then the camera would have been handy.

Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid.

Oh, and did I mention that my cell phone wasn’t charged because it hasn’t been working, so I didn’t charge it? Of course, it would have done fine taking pictures of someone famous and perhaps presidential three feet away from me. You know, if the battery hadn’t died.

Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid.

But let’s focus on the positive. We did get there early and did get nice seats behind and to the right of Obama. We saw him in profile most of the time, but because it was town-hall style he did face us sometimes. The speech was interesting — not soaring rhetoric, but more down-to-earth policy. He did have some nice elements of humor in both his scripted remarks and his responses to questions.

There was one question in particular of interest to us book lovers, and that came from a woman who asked what Obama would say to young writers. He was surprised by the question, which he admitted was one he hadn’t heard before, but didn’t hesitate to answer. He referenced his two books, and specifically mentioned how he wrote them himself, along with many of his speeches. With a light inflection, he said, “In terms of getting a job, knowing how to write is a good thing.” He talked about how he kept a journal, and how it was important for teaching him not only how to write, but also how to think. But my favorite part was when he said, “Over the course of four years I made time to read all of the Harry Potter books out loud to my daughters. If I can do that and run for president, then you can find time to read to your kids. That’s some of the most special time you have with your children.”

If the entire remarks come online later, I’ll copy that whole section rather than relying on my scribbled notes on a volunteer application form. (I did find this video about him reading the Rowling books.) But I was too excited about a potential president that really cares about reading and writing to wait. Also exciting personally — the yin to the yang of leaving the camera home — Obama walked right by us, and my younger daughter got to shake his hand! Shake. His. Hand. My older daughter debated waving the copy of Harry Potter that she had brought along to read during the wait, but since it was book five, we decided that its extraordinary size might cause it to be seen as a weapon by the Secret Service agents if she wielded it over her head.

I’ve got to say it. Obama’s speech on race was extraordinary. It’s late, I’m tired, and I did not need to spend forty minutes listening to him. But I did, and... wow. Oh, and he wrote it himself. Double wow.

If you haven’t seen the speech, you can find it here or along with the Washington Post article. I couldn’t resist pulling out this one part for my book-loving peeps:

And it means taking full responsibility for own lives — by demanding more from our fathers, and spending more time with our children, and reading to them, and teaching them that while they may face challenges and discrimination in their own lives, they must never succumb to despair or cynicism; they must always believe that they can write their own destiny.

“And reading to them.” Yes.