Community Spotlight: Ethan's Bookshelf site helps parents find just right books

At Mommy Poppins we love the blog www.ethansbookshelf.com for recommending great age-appropriate ideas for children's books, and Ethan's Bookshelf has been distinguished as an American Library Association recommended site (one of 14 this year!). Creator blogger mom Jennifer—a former NYC teacher—tells us about literacy and reading styles in this interview, plus summer reading recommendations.

What was your biggest motivation for starting this blog and how has it evolved over time?

I started my website, after my son was born and the blog that goes along with it, Read Imagine Talk (www.readimaginetalk.com) launched just about a month ago. Ethan's Bookshelf was born out of a desire to find work I could do from home that I could really love. Some of my most favorite things to do are read and write, and running the website allows me to do both. Before I had Ethan, I worked as a teacher in NYC. I taught second, fourth and fifth grades. I received my Masters from Bank Street College of Education in Reading & Literacy and then worked as adjunct faculty at Bank Street. I loved teaching in general, but my favorite part of teaching was helping kids fall in love with books and reading. Again, the web site allows me to stay in touch with something I love doing, albeit in a slightly different way!

One of the things I noticed about your blog was how the age group categories were 1 yr apart. Can you talk about books from this developmental perspective. What is the importance of introducing age appropriate books?
Thinking about how to organize the site was hard for me. It is very important to introduce kids to age-appropriate books, but this means different things for different kids. There are (at least) 2 ways to think about age-appropriate books: reading level and comprehension level. Reading level is the actual ability to decode the words. Comprehension level is what I focused more on for my site. There are fantastic books that kids should be exposed to, and we don't want kids to miss out on great experiences with literature because they are struggling decoders. Parents can read to their children or provide children with books on tape.

I broke books out by ages in such small brackets because there are so many emotional and developmental milestones that happen as our kids grow. The broadest age range on the site is the 0 - 3 bracket. I left this intentionally broad because I am a big believer in reading lots and lots of books to kids as early as you can. The language that our littlest "readers" will be exposed to by hearing books for slightly older kids will really make an impact as they grow up.

If a child likes a certain genre, is it better to encourage that exclusively or continue to provide a variety of books?
This, too, really depends on the child. When I was teaching I talked to my kids about having a "balanced reading diet" -- by this I meant that I wanted them to try a little bit of everything, that more than one genre was healthy for them. Kids will always have their staple, perhaps biography or fantasy fiction, but should, every once in a while, take a break and just try something new. It's a fine line, though -- as parents, we want our kids to keep reading and don't want to push so hard that our kids are turned off. When I had students who were solely reading one genre, I tended to implement a 1-in-5 rule, or a 1-in-10 rule. They could read 4 (or 9) books in a row of their favorite genre, but then had to try something new. The "something new" could be short, but they had to give it a go.

How can parents use the library more? or other tips/thoughts on libraries?
To me, libraries are some of the best places in the world. Where else can you find an entire world of books, new ideas and places and characters -- and find all of this for free? I take my son to the library each week for story hour and we browse around either before or after. He loves going to the library... and nothing makes me happier! One great way to use the library is to borrow audiobooks. There are so many wonderful books on tape and allowing kids to read this way takes a lot of the pressure off, especially for reluctant readers. If you have a library near you, find out what they have to offer: story hours, homework help, computer hours. Most librarians are fabulous, smart, dedicated people who love to help kids find what they're looking for!

Can you talk a little about the importance of taking your time when reading a book aloud?
For me, reading aloud is something to be savored. With younger children, it's a time to settle down, to hear a story, to look at great illustrations, to have different conversations than you might without a book. You're always modeling for kids what to do with a book, so show them how you really read: stop to ask questions, to check your understanding of the story, to predict what's going to happen, to notice details in the text or illustrations. As kids get older, they often become more reluctant to be read to. See, though, what you can do to keep reading aloud going as long as possible (age-wise). As kids get older, books get incredibly interesting and will take on even more meaning when they are discussed.

Ethan's Summer Reading List:
0 - 3:
Baby Bear, Baby Bear, What Do You See (Eric Carle)
Time for School, Mouse (Laura Numeroff)
Shiver Me Letters (June Sobel)
4 - 6:
Charlotte's Web (E.B. White)
Freckle Juice (Judy Blume)
Fancy Nancy, Bonjour Butterfly (Jane O'Connor)
Smash! Crash! (Jon Scieszka)
7 - 10+:
Ramona Quimby, Age 8 (Beverly Cleary)
Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing (Judy Blume)
The Penderwicks (Jeanne Birdsall)
The Mysterious Benedict Society (Trenton Lee Stewart)
Igraine the Brave (Cornelia Funke)

With this list, I tried to list just a few books that would get readers started. Most (but not all) of the books on this list are either part of a series or are written by an author who is prolific. Keeping this in mind, if readers find that they enjoy one of these books, they should be able to find others like it.