By Kitty Felde Kids are reading less. A lot less. Just one in three children read every day for pleasure. According to the National Literacy Trust, daily reading by kids between ages eight and 18 has dropped 26 percent over the past two decades. Librarian Rebecca Opalka says she’s been […]
Young Readers: No Book Shaming
By Kitty Felde I just got back from the American Library Association annual conference in Chicago. It was the perfect place to ask the experts about how to get a kid to pick up a book. Librarian Arlene LaVerde from Queens, New York says kids have been inundated with school […]
Young Readers: Kindles, Kindles Everywhere
By Kitty Felde If I open the kitchen pantry door and there’s a bag of chocolate chips in there, I eat them. I can’t help it. On the other hand, if the bag of chips is stashed in the back of the shelf, I don’t bother to look for them. […]
Young Readers: Stopping the Summer Slide
By Kitty Felde There’s still a few weeks of summer left, the perfect time to kick back with a cool drink and read – which may be the last thing the child in your life plans to do with their precious time away from the classroom. But months without reading […]
Young Readers: Fan Fiction Gives Familiar Characters A Second Life
By Kitty Felde Ever wonder why networks keep rebooting old TV shows? There’s a special place in our hearts for characters we wish we could spend time with again and again. But what happens when we run out of episodes? Fan fiction. These are original stories by writers who “borrow” […]
Catch Season 2 of The Fina Mendoza Mysteries Podcast
By Southwester Staff Longtime Southwest resident Kitty Felde recently announced the debut of Season 2 of her popular podcast for kids: The Fina Mendoza Mysteries. The podcast is based on the book, State of the Union, in which a mysterious bird poops on the head of the president during the […]
Young Readers: A Resolution for the New Year
By Kitty Felde Wouldn’t it be nice to simply create everybody else’s New Year’s resolutions instead of trying to follow your own? Can’t I just outsource my desire to lose ten pounds? Why is creating a new habit so darned hard? I spotted an interview with National Medal of Science […]