Re: TARGET: YA's and low reading ability

[Judith Dahill <Jdahill38@AOL.COM>]

Hi Melissa,  In my library I have place these books in a section labeled Fast
and Easy,  You would be so suprised how quickly these books started to
circulate.  I also put a green label on the bottom of the books so that
librarians and  library workers know where they are reshelved.  We have a
Special Ed., a Deaf and Hard of Hearing program, and a large bilingual
Chinese and Spanish at my school.   Most of these Fast and Easy books are at
a reading level of third grade to 8th.  Each year I try and order from the
NYPL High/Low and from Bowkers Best Books.
    It is interesting how all students find these books.  With the Fast and
Easy label, these books move.  Good luck Judith Dahill, Librarian Murry
Bergtraum HS, NY, NY jdahill38@aol.com
<<
 Hi all--You may know that Vermont is the state with the highest
 percentage of special ed students integrated into regular classrooms.
 Requests from the special educators this year include picture books
 to use in life skills instruction (things like the Tana Hoban book on
 money and letters) and high-low type books.  I did purchase some of
 the high-low last year under pressure from one of the parents and a
 teacher, and they haven't gone out much; frankly, I find them boring
 and the illustrations are ugly besides.
 My question is this:  where and how do I shelve them?  Should I
 create a special section for them?  I do wonder if one of the reasons
 that the high-low books don't go out is that they're shelved by
 themselves (basically because they're so tiny that they'd get lost
 among the other fiction).  Do the picture books designed
 to teach a lesson belong in non-fiction?  I often find that these
 children are sent to the library without an assistant and will not be
 able to find these books themselves so I'd like to make it as easy on
 the children and the staff as possible.
 I will post a hit if I can figure out how!  TIA--melissa

 Melissa A.  Malcolm, librarian
 Mt.  Abraham Union High School
 7 Airport Drive                      "If liberty and justice mean
 Bristol, Vermont  05443               anything, then access means
 mmalcolm@mtabe.k12.vt.us              everything."
 802-453-2333                             --Charles Ogletree
  >>