Scraps

One of the 2015-2016 Bluebonnet nominees was the book called Scraps: Notes from a Colorful Life by Lois Ehlert. After sharing the books with the students, I held a collage contest at the library. We had some wonderful entries.

When I held up the book Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, written by Bill Martin Jr. and John Archambault with illustrations by Ehlert, I was surprised saddened at the amount of kids who did not know about this book. I read this book so many times to my own children that - 25 years later - I still have it memorized. When I looked at the faces of the students that knew the book versus the faces of the students that did not, I'm pretty sure I could tell who were the better readers. I'm not saying this one book is the key indicator of a successful reader. I'm saying that I'm willing to bet a bucket load of Oprah's money that the kids who know this book also know other books. They probably know nursery rhymes and fairy tales. Their parents probably read to them. They were probably in a classroom where teachers read aloud to them. They probably have been to the public library or even a real book store.

If I were in charge of the world, every newborn would be sent home with a bag of books, a gift certificate to a book store for more books, and a library card for even more books in addition to all that other stuff they need to survive. And the parents would have to pinky swear to read every single day to their kids. And teachers would have to pinky swear to read aloud every single day to their kids. And administrators would have to pinky swear to stand back and let it happen. And lexiles and reading levels would go away. But I will leave that topic for another day.