GEN:STINE and reading

[Union-Endicott Central School District <libser1@TRANSIT.NYSER.NET>]

To add to the discussion::

It has to come back to what the mission of the library program is.   We
have to feed the heart, as well as the mind, of our students.  That means
to me that we not only teach information skills, but we also work to
create readers.   It is work, too, that creating the spark in kids turned
off by failure after failure in reading class.  Books like Goosebumps and
Fear Street are better than Bics for igniting readers.   Just like
building a fire, we coax, blow our bellows, very careful not to
extinguish by laying on too big of logs too soon, and just maybe we'll be
snuggling up toasting the weenies of lifelong reading.

I would hope librarians (they can tell you, if they want) in our
elementary schools have Goosebumps/Fear Street.   We may get challenged,
but I would rather get challenged than not do everything that we can to
create readers.   Stephen Krashen said it, "Kids who read, succeed.  Kids
who do not, do not"

******************************************************
Gail Dickinson
Union-Endicott Central School District
Endicott, NY

                        "This is the true joy in life; to be used for a
                                purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty
                                one"  --George Bernard Shaw