Paren’ts’ natural instinct to protect their children from harm is completely understandable. But what about shielding them from potentially disturbing images or scenes in books? An article in today’s Boston Globe explores this phenomenon—how some paren’ts skip over violent, scary or things they feel are inappropriate when reading to their child. Drawing upon various sources […]
There’s absolutely nothing wrong with being an adult who is excited for a children’s book to arrive in stores or at the library. For me, that book is Brian Selznick’s Wonderstruck, the highly anticipated follow-up to The Invention of Hugo Cabret arriving mid-September. Wonderstruck tells two stories of two children, Rose and Ben, who are […]
Over the past few years, I’ve discovered Toronto’s amazing beaches across the lake on Toronto Island. No need to hop on a plane south to enjoy some sand, sun and surf (well, at least between June and August) The beach is a great place to relax and unwind—build sandcastles, take a dip in the lake […]
Summer reading is a great time for kids to relax and read stories they enjoy. More often than not, I’ve seen kids with their noses buried in their favourite graphic novel or comic book. Now before you start saying that comics aren’t real reading or that they’re often inappropriate for children (or even if you […]
We know that teens need community service hours in order to graduate from high school. Toronto Public Library’s Youth Advisory Groups are a great place to fulfil those hours but they offer so much more. I’m honoured to be the facilitator for Cedarbrae’s developing Youth Advisory Group. We are the second group in the entire […]
If you heard the sound of librarians’ jaws hit the floor across the continent last October, here’s why. The New York Times published an article called ‘Picture Books No Longer a Staple for Children’ that discussed how picture books are languishing on bookstore shelves and how paren’ts are insisting their children bypass the book category […]