When we fully reopened June 7, all of us here at the Library were thrilled to at last greet our patrons inside. Seeing our friends, helping them find books, and just visiting with them as they checked out were balms to our thirsty souls. After all, the Signal Mountain Library is a place that not only offers books and movies but is also a hub for our community to gather and share.
This became so obvious to us during our shut-down, when we had only brief encounters with you during curb-side pick-up stops. We yearned for our former chats about books, about children, and about happenings. It just wasn’t the same for us, and we know that it wasn’t for you, either.
For one thing, every week we might compile and post lists of our new books from which you could choose to reserve, but we recognized that reading titles is just not the same as actually holding a book and thumbing through its pages. We learned that combing through these lists could never approach the thrill of in-person browsing and discovering just the perfect read.
Now that we are open again, we have retained the “new book” stickers on all the books we purchased since we closed. While these books themselves may have been moved to the stacks to make room for the very latest books on the front-facing caps, the new volumes can still be spotted easily by these stickers, which are marked with the date they were accessed.
All of us are also available to help you find the perfect book for you. Please don’t hesitate to ask us. We are ecstatic to have you back in the building and are eager to give you personal service in locating your choices.
Our construction of the new Reading Room, patio, and elevator is finally underway. This has decreased the size of our parking lot, so please bear with us. We also have had to close the Book Nook, but we will have a smaller selection of books on carts located near the patron computers from which you may shop. Even though we cannot use the Book Nook’s lower level space during the construction phase, we are still accepting book donations. Please bring us your used books so that when we can reopen, we will have lots of items available.
We so appreciate our patrons’ loyalty. During our closure, so many of you still came every week to get books, and when you always told us that you missed being inside, we definitely felt the same way. Thank you, too, for your patience and for understanding that we stayed closed until we felt it was safe to throw open our doors once again.
What Kind of Reader Are You?
Every week there is an interesting feature in the New York Times’ book review. The full-page column, “By the Book,” lists the preferences of particular authors and offers insights into their history with books and reading.
My favorite question concerns the authors’ explanation of just what spurs them on to read and how they learned to be a reader. I think it captures the authors’ true feelings towards books, and it’s fun to compare my own leanings with theirs.
In a recent issue of “By the Book,” Lionel Shriver confessed that she was a “sneaky reader,” who read both when she was supposed to be reading and when she was not. I can readily identify with this tendency, because I frequently read in class while holding a novel behind a textbook. And I completely agree with Shriver when she says, “This association between reading and getting away with something helped fortify my dedication to it…”
By the way, we have Shriver’s latest novel, “Should We Stay or Should We Go,” as well as the latest by Lawrence Osborne, “The Glass Kingdom,” an author she greatly admires.
If you’re interested, you may read the NYT book review here at the Library and then see an expanded version of “By the Book” at nytimes.com/books.
Encouraging Children to Read
I’m always on the lookout for books that help parents encourage reading in their children. Everyone knows that being a good reader not only helps children do better in school, but it also gives them the lifelong pleasure that diving into a good book offers.
Here is a selection of books in our Library that will help you instill in your young ones a passion for reading. They all offer good suggestions and clever ways to entice children into making reading a rewarding habit.
“Reading Magic: Why Reading Aloud to Our Children Will Change Their Lives Forever” by Mem Fox focuses on how reading aloud to children can profoundly increase their ability to read. Included are how to read aloud most effectively and a list of 20 books that children will surely love.
“The Book Whisperer: Awakening the Inner Reader in Every Child” and “Reading in the Wild” are by Donalyn Miller, a teacher known for letting her students pick out their own reading and had remarkable success with even struggling readers. Her techniques, outlined in this volume, have led to her students reading an average of 40 books every year.
“How to Raise a Reader” by Pamela Paul and Maria Russo is divided into four sections, each of which focuses on a specific age group of children with book suggestions tailored for each group. They stress that having a large library of books in the home is a plus for getting children to read. More reading recs are offered.
“The Enchanted Hour” by Meghan Cox Gurdon uses scientific research to support her claim that reading aloud to children benefits them immensely. She explains that this practice helps heal short attention spans, enlarges vocabularies, and invigorates imagination, as well as replaces the power of devices by engaging children with literature and with their parents’ voices.
“Bringing Up Bookmonsters: The Joyful Way to Turn Your Child into a Fearless, Ravenous Reader” by Amber and Andy Ankowski concentrates on making reading fun by using games and playtime to support reading skills. For example, they advise using building blocks with letters on them, providing letter-themed puzzles, and even helping your children dress up as their favorite characters. Also, sharing stories from books during meals or car rides further cements their appeal and makes them part of your family’s story.
by Karin Glendenning
This became so obvious to us during our shut-down, when we had only brief encounters with you during curb-side pick-up stops. We yearned for our former chats about books, about children, and about happenings. It just wasn’t the same for us, and we know that it wasn’t for you, either.
For one thing, every week we might compile and post lists of our new books from which you could choose to reserve, but we recognized that reading titles is just not the same as actually holding a book and thumbing through its pages. We learned that combing through these lists could never approach the thrill of in-person browsing and discovering just the perfect read.
Now that we are open again, we have retained the “new book” stickers on all the books we purchased since we closed. While these books themselves may have been moved to the stacks to make room for the very latest books on the front-facing caps, the new volumes can still be spotted easily by these stickers, which are marked with the date they were accessed.
All of us are also available to help you find the perfect book for you. Please don’t hesitate to ask us. We are ecstatic to have you back in the building and are eager to give you personal service in locating your choices.
Our construction of the new Reading Room, patio, and elevator is finally underway. This has decreased the size of our parking lot, so please bear with us. We also have had to close the Book Nook, but we will have a smaller selection of books on carts located near the patron computers from which you may shop. Even though we cannot use the Book Nook’s lower level space during the construction phase, we are still accepting book donations. Please bring us your used books so that when we can reopen, we will have lots of items available.
We so appreciate our patrons’ loyalty. During our closure, so many of you still came every week to get books, and when you always told us that you missed being inside, we definitely felt the same way. Thank you, too, for your patience and for understanding that we stayed closed until we felt it was safe to throw open our doors once again.
What Kind of Reader Are You?
Every week there is an interesting feature in the New York Times’ book review. The full-page column, “By the Book,” lists the preferences of particular authors and offers insights into their history with books and reading.
My favorite question concerns the authors’ explanation of just what spurs them on to read and how they learned to be a reader. I think it captures the authors’ true feelings towards books, and it’s fun to compare my own leanings with theirs.
In a recent issue of “By the Book,” Lionel Shriver confessed that she was a “sneaky reader,” who read both when she was supposed to be reading and when she was not. I can readily identify with this tendency, because I frequently read in class while holding a novel behind a textbook. And I completely agree with Shriver when she says, “This association between reading and getting away with something helped fortify my dedication to it…”
By the way, we have Shriver’s latest novel, “Should We Stay or Should We Go,” as well as the latest by Lawrence Osborne, “The Glass Kingdom,” an author she greatly admires.
If you’re interested, you may read the NYT book review here at the Library and then see an expanded version of “By the Book” at nytimes.com/books.
Encouraging Children to Read
I’m always on the lookout for books that help parents encourage reading in their children. Everyone knows that being a good reader not only helps children do better in school, but it also gives them the lifelong pleasure that diving into a good book offers.
Here is a selection of books in our Library that will help you instill in your young ones a passion for reading. They all offer good suggestions and clever ways to entice children into making reading a rewarding habit.
“Reading Magic: Why Reading Aloud to Our Children Will Change Their Lives Forever” by Mem Fox focuses on how reading aloud to children can profoundly increase their ability to read. Included are how to read aloud most effectively and a list of 20 books that children will surely love.
“The Book Whisperer: Awakening the Inner Reader in Every Child” and “Reading in the Wild” are by Donalyn Miller, a teacher known for letting her students pick out their own reading and had remarkable success with even struggling readers. Her techniques, outlined in this volume, have led to her students reading an average of 40 books every year.
“How to Raise a Reader” by Pamela Paul and Maria Russo is divided into four sections, each of which focuses on a specific age group of children with book suggestions tailored for each group. They stress that having a large library of books in the home is a plus for getting children to read. More reading recs are offered.
“The Enchanted Hour” by Meghan Cox Gurdon uses scientific research to support her claim that reading aloud to children benefits them immensely. She explains that this practice helps heal short attention spans, enlarges vocabularies, and invigorates imagination, as well as replaces the power of devices by engaging children with literature and with their parents’ voices.
“Bringing Up Bookmonsters: The Joyful Way to Turn Your Child into a Fearless, Ravenous Reader” by Amber and Andy Ankowski concentrates on making reading fun by using games and playtime to support reading skills. For example, they advise using building blocks with letters on them, providing letter-themed puzzles, and even helping your children dress up as their favorite characters. Also, sharing stories from books during meals or car rides further cements their appeal and makes them part of your family’s story.
by Karin Glendenning
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