Picture Books Still Thrive at Public Libraries

Link to Scripps Howard News Service article in the November 26 Seattle Times, "Let's not turn the page on picture books for children".

Excerpt:     But the article looked only at publishers and bookstores, leaving out the place where many parents and children connect with picture books — the local public library. At the Takoma Park, Md., Library, where I work as a children's/teen librarian, picture books still account for one of our biggest circulation categories. Instead of paying up to $18 each for a picture book, parents are instead checking them out for free from the library.

Yet Bosman did, unfortunately, get it right when it comes to the issue of parents urging their kids to read chapter books at earlier ages. As the children's librarian, I increasingly encounter parents who want their 3- and 4-year-olds to read chapter-book series like "The Magic Tree House" instead of picture books, even those picture books that have won the prestigious Caldecott Medal, given annually by the American Library Association for the best-illustrated children's book.

Is this necessarily a bad thing? No, but it's not necessarily the best thing for kids and reading, either. As a public librarian, I firmly believe that it's up to parents to determine what their children read. Yet parents themselves often need and welcome guidance as to the best reading choices.

The author, Karen MacPherson, is the children's/teen librarian at the Takoma Park, Md., Library.

Related articles:
'Momania' blogger on picture books.  (10/9/2010)
Picture books increasingly bypassed for chapter books.  (10/8/2010)