From: Maggi <librarymaggi_at_gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 19 Nov 2009 16:50:10 -0500

I am definitely seeing a trend to phonics-based and very simple books for young readers. Ten years ago I had a hard time finding these early readers in bookstores, but I think BOB Books made a huge impact, and now more emergent readers are available for general purchase, both in small sets like BOB and as individual titles. I suspect Elephant and Piggie have also influenced this movement. I'm also finding it easier to find nonfiction for early readers, which is great.

Graphic novels! They are everywhere. This is very exciting for me, a comic book reader for over twenty years. I'm glad that many of them are well written and engaging. Akiko and Bone are no longer sitting alone on my elementary library shelves. I'm also enjoying the emergence of manga into general US culture. I would love to see a special award for graphic novels from ALA because so many of the great ones are being overlooked in favor of "regular" novels for children and teens.

I have read three fiction books in the last couple months that mentioned something about Pluto being a dwarf planet. =) Mentions like these, or of current cultural events like YouTube, definitely date a book, but I know my kids will appreciate them for a few years, at least.

Looking forward to reading others' trends.

-Maggi Idzikowski Media Specialist Allen Elementary School, Ann Arbor MI librarymaggi_at_gmail.com Blogging with my 3-year-old at http://mamalibrarian.blogspot.com/
Received on Thu 19 Nov 2009 04:50:10 PM CST