From: Kbshepler at aol.com <Kbshepler>
Date: Mon, 6 Feb 2006 00:59:33 EST

I hope it is not too late to post about the Geisel Award....
  I am so happy with the creation of this award. Well done, everyone. And I think the titles chosen for the first selection are fine. If our Library lesson last week was any indication, this award is going to do exactly what we all hoped it would: bring an under appreciated genre to more attention and highlight the best of early readers for broader recognition.
  When reviewing the Geisel Award winners with my school's K-5 students, they were consistently enthusiastic about the books. With the youngest, I read some
 books; with the older, they read them out loud. It was such fun to see them all respond with enthusiasm and humor to the titles. The cache of an award will help some readers who still need these early readers even in later school years feel OK about asking for them. (..."Beginning Readers Are Not Just for Kindergartners Anymore")
  It was especially great to see a picture book get a Geisel Honor ("A Splendid Friend, Indeed"). A list I am trying to work on would catalog those picture book titles in the library that can be used successfully as early readers.
(As I stated on another listserv: only some of the great picture books really work for the new-to-reading crew to tackle on their own. These titles must be phonetically appropriate and developmentally pitched to the young reader.) I look forward to the Geisel winners to help expand that list. The older students talked about how they will use the picture book title especially with their younger siblings/cousins/school partner pals etc.
  And I want to mention that "Hi, Fly Guy!" was such a hit earlier with a 4th grader that he has been talking about it for weeks! I look forward to this new series to hook readers of the testosterone persuasion.
  Kathy
 
  Kathryn Shepler, Librarian (_KBSHEPLER at aol.com_ (mailto:KBSHEPLER at aol.com) ) Aurora School Oakland, CA

 
 
Received on Sun 05 Feb 2006 11:59:33 PM CST