Parents are Reading More to Children...Sorta

The Christian Science Monitor on November 1, 2007 reported that more U.S. parents are reading to their children and allowing children to watch television less than 10 years ago. Read more at this link: http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/1102/p01s01-usgn.html?page=1

Also, note that the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) released a report titled “Read Across the Nation: A Chartbook on November 1, 2007, which details the reading patterns of children by state and against national averages. Florida (page 31 of the report) didn’t fare well in several areas. For example, the percentage of Florida children (0-5) being read to daily was 42.9 percent against the national average of 47.8 percent, ranking Florida at 46 of the 50 states. Read more of this report at: http://healthychild.ucla.edu/ROR/ROR_Chartbook_2007.pdf

Interesting Article on Children Understanding Storybook Characters

I just posted a link to an article that highlights a study concerning how children 3-5 internalize characters in storybooks. I've been researching storybooks through the winners of the Caldecott Medal winners as well as recent bestsellers. My interest in storybooks also stems from my use of them as a connection within nearly all of the children activities I've designed. In time I'll have storybook recommendations on the blog.