Infograph by Scholastic and devised from the Kids & Family Reading Report: Fifth Edition which is due out in January 2015. The Kids & Family Reading Report is a national survey of children ages 6–17 and their parents exploring attitudes and behaviors around reading books for fun.
After helping the Ferguson Public Library we need to go to Philadelphia
Principal Marjorie Neff sits in her school's closed library, which was closed last year due to budget cuts. TOM GRALISH / Staff In one week we have helped raise over $300,000 for the Ferguson Public Library. The outpouring of support has been epic and a wounded community has been guaranteed a safe place to turn to in its time of need. Now we must turn our attention to the public school libraries of West and Southwest Philadelphia. Here in its entirety is an op-ed that ran in the Philadelphia Inquirer last Sunday and it begins like this: "In 1991, there were 176 certified librarians in...
Let’s put a bookstore in every mall
To magnify the ridiculousness of what has become Black Friday, The Stranger, one of Seattle's few remaining papers that publishes with any integrity, produced a whole issue that originated in a mall. Setting up shop 17 miles outside of Seattle at the Alderwood Mall they went to work. It started this way: It's easy to feel superior in a shopping mall, as anyone who lives in a city should know by now. But easy ironies no longer offer cheap thrills, and capitalism is in exactly no danger of being replaced or overthrown. Shopping malls have been a major cultural reality for...
James Patterson is pissed: Calls out Obama for book support
[youtube]http://youtu.be/JkkVPJBkvqA[/youtube] “There’s a book burning going on in America, You’re invited. Especially the kids. You see they’re shutting down your local bookstores. Shutting down libraries. Publishers are dying. American literature will be next on the flames.” James Patterson is on the loose. After throwing money at it (pledging over $1.5 million to bookshops in America and the UK) Patterson is now throwing books on the fire to wake up the the government and promote his #SaveOurBooks campaign. Patterson has started a White House petition where he is asking the president to pledge that once a month, he will go into a library, bookstore, or appear...
The Ferguson Public Library as an epicenter of healing
Ferguson is a mess. The schools are closed, part of the town is smoldering, people are angry and justice got away. But the Ferguson Public Library remains open! Since that fateful August day when a trigger-happy police officer forever altered the fate of the town the Ferguson Public Library has been open and has played a significant role in helping the community get back on its feet. From an ABC News story that aired on August 20, 2014 Ferguson Library Becomes Refuge for Adults and Children Amid Strife: Amid all of the strife engulfing Ferguson, Missouri, this month, there is one spot in...