Is There a Cow in Moscow?

Finished May 21

Is There a Cow in Moscow? More Beastly Mispronunciations and Sound Advice: Another Opinionated Guide to the Well-Spoken by Charles Harrington Elster

This book is arranged alphabetically, and looks at words both common (a and the) and uncommon (quoin and ukase) as well as many in between. It includes some place names and proper names, such as those of the muses, and talks about changes to usage over time.

The book is written by an American and mainly discusses American pronunciation, occasionally mentioning how British or Canadian differs. Because the book was written more than thirty years ago, more changes to how language is used have occurred and some of his preferred pronunciations are no longer the common form. I also found that sometimes my pronunciation of a word (as a Canadian) differed slightly from his preferred version, even if he hadn't noted a difference for different English speakers. 

It introduced me to some words that I hadn't known before, and made me think harder about how we say things in different circumstances (i.e. noun versus verb) and contexts (i.e. when followed by a word beginning with a consonant or a vowel)

An interesting book to read in short sections or use as a helpful reference when encountering a new word. I enjoyed the historical changes he discussed for some words and also when he talked about word origins. 

Maker Literacy

Finished June 16

Maker Literacy: A New Approach to Literacy Programming for Libraries by Lynn Pawloski and Cindy Wall

This book has a ton of ideas packed into its small size. It is organized into different types of programming and each section gives an outline of at least one program and some apps that would work for it. Here are the program sections, with a deeper look at the first one and basic outline for the rest.

The first section is called eTots and has at its core an iPad or Tablet storytime. It is for 2-5 year olds, and focuses on five skills: talking, singing, reading, writing, and playing. A section of the program has each child and caregiver pair working on their own tablet. It starts, as most storytimes do, with a welcome songs, and involves other songs, fingerplays, and uses a poem to transition to the time on the tablet. The theme-related apps are done as a group, and then there is a portion of the program used for free app play. The program ends with a maker element of either a craft or an activity. One of the things the authors mention here is how small movements are useful to help children focus. There is a whole list of suggested apps, many of which are free, and related lists of themes. For these section they give three themed examples: Frogs, Music, and Robots. 

The second section they call Not Just for Kids and it is focused for kids 4-6 along with their caregiver. To get you in the right frame of mind, they suggest library staff watch the Ted Talk Why a Good Book is a Secret Door, read the book Extra Yarn, and watch the commercial The House That Knits Itself, along with the video of how that commercial was made. This section gives you other creative ideas around wool, along with two other themes: caves and flight.

The third section is for multiactivity programs for ages 4-6 that they call Use Your Words. The themes they give you here are: mail and an alphabet mashup.

The fourth is for Rookie Readers, ages 5-6; the fifth for discovering engineering, ages 5-7; the sixth for art active books, ages 6-7; the seventh for Kidz Kode, ages 6-8; the eighth for No Required Reading, ages 7-10, the ninth for guest reader days, which works well for class visits too; The tenth for a one book program event; and the eleventh for your library maker area itself. 

There is an appendix that lists all the apps mentioned in the book as well. 

This is such a fantastic resource that combines making and imagination and learning. Highly recommended.