“Reading to our children is one of the simple steps we can take to encourage imagination and help establish a life-long love of learning,” said Sebelius. “Gary and I loved reading to our boys when they were young and we both continue to urge parents and families to read to their children.”

State Librarian Christie Brandau explained, “A child develops language skills before he or she is able to speak, and they develop literary skills long before they can begin to read. So much learning capacity occurs in a child’s first three years that it is imperative that we read to every baby, toddler, and preschooler.”

Brandau added, “Kansas has nearly 200,000 children under the age of five, and their future achievement depends on their literacy. Reading to a child for 30 minutes per day from infancy helps prepare a child to learn. In addition to highlighting the importance of reading to children, this week also promotes the library as a renewable resource of reading material.”

The Kansas City Star, the Wichita Eagle and the Topeka Capital Journal ran announcement articles on Sunday, June 22. The news release will go out across the state to other dailies and weeklies on June 23. The news release is available on the KCFB website.

The Kansas Notable Book authors will be honored at a reception hosted by the State Library of Kansas late this summer, and again at an evening reception at the Reading Festival in Lawrence on September 27.

The alphabetical list by title of the 2008 Kansas Notable Books follow:

1. American Shaolin: Flying Kicks, Buddhist Monks, and the Legend of Iron Crotch: An Odyssey in the New China, by Matthew Polly.
2. The Boy Who Was Raised by Librarians, Brad Sneed, illustrator.
3. Can I Keep My Jersey? 11 Teams, 5 Countries, and 4 Years in My Life as a Basketball Vagabond, by Paul Shirley.
4. The Curse of Catunkhamun, by Tim Raglin.
5. The Farther Shore, by Matthew Eck.
6. From Emporia: The Story of William Allen White, by Beverley O. Buller.
7. Hellfire Canyon, by Max McCoy.
8. Hunger for the Wild: America’s Obsession with the Untamed West, by Michael L. Johnson.
9. The Kitchen Sink: New and Selected Poems, 1972-2007, by Albert Goldbarth.
10. A Matter of Justice: Eisenhower and the Beginning of the Civil Rights Revolution, by David A. Nichols.
11. The Middle of Somewhere, by J. B. Cheaney.
12. The Rest of Her Life, by Laura Moriarty.
13. Sea Monsters: Prehistoric Creatures of the Deep, by Michael J. Everhart.
14. Storm Chaser: A Photographer’s Journey, by Jim Reed.
15. Writing in an Age of Silence, by Sara Paretsky.

Thank you for your support of the Kansas Center for the Book!

Janie Rutherford
Communications Specialist
State Library of Kansas
300 SW 10th, 343N
Topeka, KS 66612
785-291-3230
www.kslib.info

Last week the State Library of Kansas and the Kansas Center for the Book announced Bear Feels Sick by Karma Wilson as the selection for the Fourth Annual Kansas Reads to Preschoolers Week, Nov. 16-22, 2008.

Sniffs and sneezes combined with a temperature and general crankiness usually indicate that “someone” is getting “sick.” Bear Feels Sick is a heart-warming story of how Bear’s friends nurse him with herbal tea, lullabies, and tender loving care until he’s well again! The 2008 Kansas Reads to Preschoolers Week will focus on health, which is why Bear Feels Sick is the statewide book selection.

Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius once again will serve as honorary chair for the special week. It’s estimated that during the Kansas Reads to Preschoolers Week, more than 20,000 Kansas preschoolers will be read to by parents, grandparents, children’s librarians, mayors, elected officials, middle and high school students and many, many others.

Each public library will receive a copy of Bear Feels Sick, compliments of the Kansas Center for the Book program. We recognize that local libraries play a big role in early childhood reading and are instrumental to the success of Kansas Reads to Preschoolers. Libraries all over the state will plan special displays of health-related books, schedule health and wellness activities, organize pre-school story hours, and invite participation by various health care professionals.

Co-sponsors for the statewide read include: Kansas Parent Information Resource Center (KPIRC), and the Kansas Association of Child Care and Resource and Referral Agencies (KACCRRA). More information on the program, will be posted at the website: http://www.kcfb.info. More information about the book and author can be found at: www.karmawilson.com/books/bear/sick.htm.

Christie Brandau, State Librarian, noted, “this is a prestigious honor that acknowledges the work of many Kansans–local librarians, readers, students, teachers, volunteers and others.”

KCFB projects mentioned in the citation include coordination of the Kansas Notable Books list, the Kansas Reads annual one-book statewide discussion project, sponsorship of the Kansas Reads to Preschoolers project, and expanded participation in Letters about Literature. Roy Bird, Director of Kansas Center for the Book said “thousands of Kansans participated in reading and discussing Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood; nearly 1,500 students entered the Letters about Literature competition; and hundreds of libraries joined in reading to preschoolers about safety.”

Visit the KCFB website for more details about these programs.