From: Norma Jean <nsawicki>
Date: Thu, 02 Nov 2006 17:00:45 -0400

This may be "off the wall," but I have felt for a long time that "reading," has become a dirty word for many kids. For some, it is associated with struggles...to learn the meaning of words, pronounce words, tests, etc. When I was in publishing and went into schools to talk to kids about how books are made, I did not mention reading but talked about "story," and the writer as a storyteller. Pointed out that they themselves told stories every day...what they did at school, about a friend(s), etc....they were all stories and like them, writers tell stories but they are written down, published, and many of them are "made up." Sometimes we made up our own story...I would begin by giving a sentence...the beginning of a story.... and each kid was asked to add to it in a logical fashion ...ultimately we, as a group, created a story. The caliber did not matter but the process did, many kids" got it;" saw it as fun and liked the idea of "making up" a story. This so-called exercise was connected to the books I used to play show and tell, and the more I knew about the writer and/or how the story came to be, the better. In one picture book I sometimes used ( and edited), the main character is a fox and I told them I had suggested to the writer we give the fox a "sex operation" and change the fox from male to female and explained why...those kids were about rolling on the floor laughing as were their teachers. Anyway.... an FYI for what it is worth. Norma Jean
Received on Thu 02 Nov 2006 03:00:45 PM CST