Books still rule in the subways of NYC

The New York Times is running a story on what and how people read on the subways in New York. They're inviting people to post their subway line and what they read, so it should be fun to check back and see the info and graphic later.

My favorite part is in the section entitled "Readers in Training." Day campers, ages 5-8, who ride the subway regularly bring books with them and the rule is that if they get a seat they have to have a book to read. Although it also notes that "even campers who had to stand took to their books."

A library without the books

The Boston Globe's front page story this morning is about Cushing Academy's decision to chuck their books in favor of Amazon Kindles, computers, and coffee. (The reference desk will be replaced by a $50,000 coffee shop!)

While I applaud their courage to make a bold move and embrace some of the newly-available technology, I don't quite understand why it has to be an either-or situation. I do think that certain types of non-fiction information may be best found online, and there is a lot of value in providing access to fiction that rarely moves off the shelf, a lot is being lost here too. What you need is the right tool for the right job, and sometimes a print book is the right tool, sometimes it's a laptop, maybe sometimes it's a Kindle or iTouch or a photocopied page. Readers seem to agree, because as of 9am there were already nearly 100 comments posted.

Just because something's on a computer doesn't make it better - nor is it necessarily better because it's in print.

Give the students what they want - or do they know what it is?

An article in the New York Times was one of the most emailed and commented-on this past week. A New Assignment: Pick Books You Like highlights teachers who allow students to choose their own reading material in school.

There are a few hundred comments, which are worth picking through to see different sides of the debate. I think there are some great points being made on both sides. On one hand, both good readers and those who are less enthusiastic benefit from being able to choose books they like. On the other, there is something to be said for having a shared cultural experience in school - and in our culture in general. Really, we need to make room for both ways of doing things.

Used Book Superstore Sale 9/19

The Used Book Superstore in Danvers has a sale coming up on Saturday 9/19. Prices are usually good anyway, but you can get great deals at their sales. Kids' books will be only 50 cents, other books $1, VHS tapes 75 cents, etc. They also have some DVDs and audiobooks on CD and cassette (remember those?).

Summer Reading

I'm pulling together all the lists of what everyone read over the summer so I can organize who will be assigned to which rooms. Teachers will receive lists shortly of what books their students are signed up for, and students should check those lists carefully to be sure they're accurate. If you read Tiger you won't want to be sent to a room of kids discussing Define "Normal"!

Of course, I'm hoping that most of you (students, teachers and parents) read something other than the "required" reading. I love having time to read the newspaper - I admit to being a news junkie. I still love getting the morning paper and spreading it out while I drink my coffee. But now that I've acquired a laptop, I'm also hopping online in the morning and reading other papers and news outlets online - and hoping the papers don't go under with all of us reading them for free online :-) Some good books I enjoyed are:

• Girl Overboard - YA book, about the daughter of a billionaire whose passion is snowboarding, but now that she's been injured she has to figure out a bunch of things in her life, including issues with family, friends, boys, and whether she'll ever be able to snowboard again.
• Finding Oz - a biography of L. Frank Baum, the author of the iconic Wizard of Oz books. His life held a series of failures up until his early 40s, when the first Oz book was published. The book reveals some fascinating and surprising inspirations for many of the elements and characters in Oz.
• When a Crocodile Eats the Sun - written by a journalist who grew up in Zimbabwe in the 1960s, where his British (or so he thought) parents settled after WWII. His parents are now aging and the country is becoming increasingly dangerous during the early 2000s, when this memoir is set. Family secrets are revealed, and the author grapples with his own mixed feelings about his home country, now that he no longer lives there himself.

What have you been reading?