[CALIBK12] Books save lives

Mon Apr 27 10:23:09 PDT 2009

Actually I didn't write it, just passing it along. 

--- On Mon, 4/27/09, burchm at lompoc.k12.ca.us <burchm at lompoc.k12.ca.us> wrote:

> From: burchm at lompoc.k12.ca.us <burchm at lompoc.k12.ca.us>
> Subject: Re: [CALIBK12] Books save lives
> To: "Stephen Krashen" <skrashen at yahoo.com>
> Cc: calibk12 at lists.sjsu.edu
> Date: Monday, April 27, 2009, 9:14 AM
> I'm so glad you wrote this.  Although
> I am a Christian person, I too have enjoyed sharing this
> lovely wealth of new "Jewish" literature with my
> own family, and with classes of children.  We have
> fried Latkes and enjoyed learning about Jewish
> festivals.  I think the more we learn about each other,
> the more we appreciate each other.Mary P. Burch
> Librarian (for a few more weeks) Lompoc High
> School Library
> -----calibk12-bounces at lists.sjsu.edu wrote:
> -----
> 
> To: calibk12 at lists.sjsu.edu
> From: Stephen Krashen <skrashen at yahoo.com>
> Sent by: calibk12-bounces at lists.sjsu.edu
> Date: 04/25/2009 02:06PM
> Subject: [CALIBK12] Books save lives
> 
> 
> http://www.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/opinion/jt/comment/books_save_lives/
> 
> Baltimore Jewish Times
> 
> April 17, 2009
> 
> Books Save Lives
> 
> Meredith Jacobs
> Special to the Jewish Times
> 
> I can count on one hand the Jewish books I owned as a
> child. There was an amazing biblical comic book that had
> been my dad’s; it had illustrated stories of Cain and
> Abel, Ruth, Samson and Delilah, and David and Goliath. There
> was a collection of K’tonton stories and two picture
> books of a brother and a sister celebratingShabbat and
> Chanukah.
> 
> The small number wasn’t for lack of interest. I was
> fortunate enough to have an extensive book collection on my
> shelves and my parents constantly took my sister and me to
> the library. I was a voracious reader, but there just
> weren’t a lot of Jewish storybooks published when I
> was a child.
> 
> I still have those two picture books of the brother and
> sister celebrating the holidays. They weren’t exciting
> or well-written or illustrated. But I made a point of
> reading them during holidays and there was something special
> about having books about children like me. When all my
> non-Jewish friends could read about Santa Claus or the
> Easter Bunny, at least I had David and Ruth.
> 
> As my own children grow, I try to buy as many Jewish
> children’s titles as possible, which means our book
> collection now spans from “Matzo Ball Moon” to
> “You’re So Not Invited to My Bat
> Mitzvah.”
> 
> While it’s never too early to read to a child, I
> believe it’s extra special for children to read
> stories about kids who share their own traditions, history
> and culture.
> 
> That’s why the PJLibrary program caught my attention.
> While my children were too old to participate in the Harold
> S. Grinspoon Foundation-funded program, families with
> children under age 8 simply sign up and books are mailed to
> their home each month.
> 
> Baltimore is a PJLibrary community and, if you have young
> children, I strongly encourage you to call the Center for
> Jewish Education and sign up for these free books. Natalie
> Blitt, head of the PJLibrary Selection Committee, gets to
> the heart of this important initiative by noting that
> parents reading these books to their children create
> “great Jewish family memories.”
> 
> But not all children have access to books, Jewish or not.
> Jeff McQuillan, in his study “The Literacy Crisis:
> False Claims, Real Solutions,” writes: “The only
> behavior measure that correlates significantly with reading
> scores is the number of books at home. An analysis of a
> national data set of nearly 100,000 U.S. children found that
> access to printed material — not poverty — is
> the “critical variable affecting reading
> acquisition.”
> 
> Not only that, but ability to read books gives comfort and
> security. They offer a place to escape and time to dream.
> 
> For this reason, Jewish Women International earmarks funds
> raised from its Mother’s Day Flower Project to
> building children’s libraries in homeless and battered
> women’s shelters across the country.
> 
> Why? As its literature states, “For a woman fleeing
> an abusive relationship, the immediacy of danger often means
> leaving home with only her children and the clothes on their
> backs. To help ease this traumatic upheaval, JWI’s
> National Library Initiative transforms a basic shelter space
> into a library complete with furniture, hundreds of books, a
> computer and various comfort items — and it quickly
> becomes both an educational resource and a safe haven for
> the youngest victims of domestic violence.”
> 
> With Mother’s Day this year on May 10, honor the
> special women in your life through a $25 donation to
> JWI’s Flower Project. You will help make life a little
> easier for the 25,000 women in shelters by bringing the gift
> of books to their children.
> 
> Meredith Jacobs is the author of “The Modern Jewish
> Mom’s Guide to Shabbat” and the co-author, with
> her daughter Sofie, of the upcoming “Just Between Us:
> A Journal for Mothers and Daughters” (ChronicleBooks,
> spring 2010).
> 
> 
>      
> 
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