Character-Building Books, Poetry and Children

Character Building Books (4:11) Honesty … respect … tolerance … responsibility … dependability. Who wouldn’t want to instill these character traits in our children? Our first guest today, educator and author Mary Bigler, talks to Rachel about how we can do that. Her solution?  Surprise of all surprises – the answer might just include quality books, and, Mary will have a few recommendations. Once a pre-school teacher and now, a professor, she has spent her life promoting literacy and celebrating the joys of teaching. She is an award-winning professor in the Department of Teacher Education at Eastern Michigan University and, author of Lessons Learned.  Poetry and Children (16:28) Next, Rachel welcomes Terrell Young, a children’s literature expert at BYU, for a conversation about poetry and kids. Young believes children have a natural affinity for poetry because of their love of language, rhythm, and rhyme. He has served on numerous committees and is co-author of many books including Children’s Literature, Briefly; and, Independent Reading: Creating Lifelong Readers. Book Review (25:40) We finish up the show today with Rita Christensen, Children’s Librarian at the Orem Library, reviewing a Junior Graphic novel entitled El Deafo by Cece Bell. We’ll look forward to more young reader book reviews from other librarians in the future. For a full collection of book reviews, check out the “Worlds Awaiting Book Reviews” link on our website at byuradio.org or by clicking here.