Customer Reviews

Books Kids Will Sit Still For 3: A Read-Aloud Guide (Children's and Young Adult Literature Reference) (v. 3)

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Ever wished you could keep up all the great children's books and pick the best ones to read aloud and recommend to your students? Need inspiration to liven up your lessons on library skills? Looking for more effective ways to collaborate with teachers? This book has it all!

Targeted at grades K - 6, the first 100+ pages include wide-ranging information about children's books and ways to use them. Topics include: how to be a great school librarian, evaluating children's books, read aloud and booktalking suggestions, fun library learning games, storytelling, creative drama, reader's theater, etc.

The next 600 pages contain wonderful annotated read-aloud lists divided by Easy Fiction/Picture books, Fiction, Folk & Fairy Tales, Myths and Legends, Poetry, Nonsense and Language Oriented non-fiction, Biography, and Non-fiction. In addition to standard information (author, summary, etc.) each of the 1,705 annotations includes grade level, related titles, subjects, and a "Germ." "Germs" are small, practical, do-able ideas to interject into lesson plans including ideas for sharing the books with children and incorporating comprehension, creativity, library skills, and cross-curricular ties, etc. Pick one book on the list and turn it into a great lesson plan!

The final 200 pages include a professional bibliography and 3 handy indices: Author/Illustrator Index, Title Index, and the index I find most helpful - the Subject Index including grade level of each book. Subject you can think of is covered - from Aardvarks to Bullying to Hispanic Americans to Zoos!

I cannot recommend a book more highly! It's not just for school librarians - teachers, homeschoolers, parents, and public librarians will also love it! I also recommend previous editions - Books Kids Will Sit Still For and More Books Kids Will Sit Still For - both have different hints on how to be a great librarian and annotated lists of older books. I use all three Judy Freeman's books almost daily to help me work with teachers and plan great library lessons.

Third time is the charm for Freeman. This book is much more than just a revised and updated version. Judy has put all the book suggestions and "germs" like always, but she has included enough other librarian and book info to keep you going through many school years to come. How to share great books, extension activities, program management ideas, favorites over the years, and Judy's insights about books are too numerous to mention. As a school librarian for more than 500 PreK-6th grade students I know I'll have plenty of ideas for great book sharing and fun all year. I see 8 classes of pre-reading, 3-5 year olds each week and I know Judy's insight will help me build a strong literacy foundation with them. I bought the hardback because the book is so big and I didn't want to worry about the binding giving into that weight. You need this book.

Judy Freeman has done it again! I loved her first two books and she has not disappointed me with her third. This is a terrific up-to-date reference source for excellent books you can trust will jazz-up your library lessons and get students reading. I have attended Judy's yearly best books of the year workshops for the past six years and have found her book choices and ideas for their use in a library program to be always "spot on". Books Kids Will Sit Still For 3 is packed with great suggestions and concrete, immediately useful ideas for read-alouds and curriculum connections. As a new school librarian, I turn to this volume often for guidance and ideas.

This is a wonderful resource book for all librarians. There are wonderful idexes at the back of the book that help in locating the best book. The subject index is a great tool to use in helping teachers find "just the right book". The book is full of activities for librarians to use with new and current books! This is a MUST BUY!

This is a wonderful reference for parents to find books for their home schooling kids, and for the kids to find books for themselves.

This book should be titled, "The Book Librarians Can't Wait For!" I received my book at school last week and after thumbing through it briefly, I could hardly put it down to get my work done. It is absolutley the best resource I've found for book lists, curriculum tie-ins, helpful suggstions for sharing books, etc. You can't go wrong with this one.

"Comprehensive" doesn't even begin to describe the scope of this book. As always, Judy's annotations are imaginative, informative, and well-written, and her descriptions of how to use the books in the classroom are a godsend for any teacher. These descriptions (or "Germs") give enough inspiration for beginning teacher and seasoned veteran alike, and will keep kids enthralled (and even sitting still) time after time. Judy's books hold a special place in our school library, and should be a required feature of all school and public libraries. So grab a cup of hot chocolate, open your copy of "Books Kids Will Sit Still For 3," and relish all of the wonderful books that you can share with your kids this year. Enjoy!

I stumbled across this wonderful book while working my way through our library's books about books in search of more wonderful picture books to share with my toddler (who is nearly 19 months). It was mis-shelved in the local branch (took 4 tries for the librarian to find it) and since no one had noticed in the 6 months or so since the book came in, my friendly librarian slapped a due date sticker on it and let me check it out. I found myself immersed in it during the daughter's afternoon nap and checked to see if either of the previous volumes was available to check out. Alas no, although I found a cheap ex-library copy of the previous volume, More Books Kids Will Sit Still For: A Read-Aloud Guide (2nd Edition), which when it arrived looked like it had never been touched. I don't pretend to understand that - I think this is a treasure trove of ideas and books to share with young (and not so young) children. Although it's aimed at elementary educators, there's a huge amount to offer a parent or other caregiver...ideas for activities related to the books as well as related titles.

As the parent of a toddler, I confess that I prefer the overlapping mini-sections by age found in More Books Kids Will Sit Still For: A Read-Aloud Guide (2nd Edition) and Books Kids Will Sit Still For: A Read-Aloud Guide Second Edition (Books Kids Will Sit Still for) because it's easier to sift through a couple hundred titles than 800 for books short enough for a toddler to sit through, but that's more of a quibble, especially since the expanded entries offer so many ideas for making (or keeping) books interesting.

If there is one book to buy for your school librarian, this is it! Ms. Freeman gives invaluable advice to librarians and teachers - 17 things you need to know to be a great school librarian! If you do them all, you will be a fabulous librarian. BUt you MUST own this book! The list of books that Freeman uses, is only a partial list of books that can be used for lessons, units, and overall curriculum. Ms. Freeman gives the librarian 'germs' or ideas of how best to use the literature. After the 'germs' she lists many related titles and then has the most useful indexes-by title, author, and author/illustrator!

BEST BOOK EVER!
I am giving it to every librarian as a back to school present...

I've had the pleasure in the past week to read Judy Freeman's Newbery committee experience in her latest "Books Kids will sit still for 3" (c. 2006). She had to take the Librarian Oath, probably with a ceremonial blood letting to seal it, that she and the other members would never tell the secrets of the Committee dealings with the individual books. Ooooooh, that makes me want to be on the Committee even more!

I thought the listings alone in the book would be worth the book's weight in gold (which is substantial, with more than 900 pages), but it pales in comparison with the first 100+ pages of the book in which she shares her passion for reading, books, libraries, and children. What a treat! Reward yourselves soon by allowing time to read this.

Thanks, Judy! You made my day!

Liz Frame
Librarian
San Antonio Christian Elementary School