ince writing
his million-copy bestseller, The Read-Aloud Handbook,
in 1982, Jim Trelease has traveled to all 50 states and
abroad, advocating the benefits of reading aloud to children.
IN doing
so, he's won the applause of both teachers and parents
for his pleas in behalf of literacy efforts that contain
less
"pain" and more focus on
turning books into friends, not enemies.
WHILE more
than 60 U.S. colleges use his Handbook as
a text for education students, Korean, Chinese, Japanese,
Indonesian, and Spanish editions now reach parents and teachers
worldwide, and inspired the successful "All
of Poland Reads to Kids" campaign in Europe.
FREE Reading
Brochures for Parents — the perfect handouts!
If you're looking for concise, single-page brochures aimed at parents that include
highlight facts from Jim's seminars, films, and books, check out "Reading
Brochures for Parents " for free downloads.
•
• JIM TRELEASE'S RETIREMENT LETTER • •
Having done more than 2500 presentations in the last 30 years, Jim retired from
public speaking on Jan. 31, 2008. In this LETTER,
he looks back at the highs and lows of those decades, what he learned and the
people who taught him the most.
THE PRINCIPAL WHO BANNED
READING ALOUD
A veteran K-2 librarian is pitted against an "on-task"
principal who wants those K-2 students in front of terminals
and
doing research — not sitting on floor mats listening to literature.
Guess who loses? See THE
ANGRY GIANT.
Take
the gamble out of your
read-aloud choices!
Jim Trelease's
Treasury of Read-Alouds offers
hundreds of choices for all ages.
The
Read-Aloud Handbook — 6th ed. More than 40
chapter excerpts are
here from the all-time bestselling guide to children's books
and reading for parents and teachers.
MEANINGFUL
DIFFERENCES The huge (and 'secret') differences
in vocabularybetween rich,
working class, and poverty children, and how it impacts school
scores.
Censorship
and children's literature Are they watch
dogs or mad
dogs? Sometimes
it's hard to tell, so be prepared. Eight pages of issues
and answers.
Rain
Gutters for Book Shelves? You
can make your shelves look like Barnes & Noble's via your local hardware store
— and it's inexpensive. RAIN
GUTTERS!
Frustrated
by the Web's broken links —Error 404? Relax. Your "missing"
page is waiting for you at the WayBackMachine —
the free Internet Archive with 90 billion pages.
The
Debate About Online Reading What are the ramifications of a
generation reading more online than offline? Here's a DIRECTORY of
articles on the subject — pro and con.
NOW
you can
view an eight-minute segment from Jim Trelease's film as
a Flash video here online.
Ohio
principal apologizes for what students missed while
pursuing higher test scores.Nothing
better portrays the sorry state of test-teaching than this
apology from a 24-year
principal at an "excellent-rated" school.
School
Principals: Tired
of empty audiences for parent programs? Read how one
principal always draws a full
house in her working-class
community.
WHEN
a
school superintendent had enough of the absurdities
in state testing, he wrote and distributed a parody
that will leave you thinking (and smiling) : No
Dentist Left Behind.
When
Vernon Jordan's father learned his son had
the lowest reading scores of his incoming college class, he
laid down a "reading
rule" to
the future civil rights activist and Washington power broker.
Listen as Jordan explains the rule in a 2-minute
excerpt from NPR's
Diane Rehm Show.
Hundreds
of Author Online Interviews
Public
radio and TV archives
are a treasure-trove of author interviews with people
like Tomie dePaola, Walter
Dean Myers, Lois Lowry, Kate DiCamillo, Avi, as
well as programs
on education issues like Alfie
Kohn's argument and
research on eliminating homework.
More at Mindful
Listening Online.
Schramm's
Fraction of Selection Check out the simple math
equation explaining why some
literate people read a lot and others read very little.
Then apply it to children.
PARENTS: Before
there were books-on-tape there were old-time radio dramas.
As exercise for the imagination, they beat DVDs in the
car, and now thousands are available as MP3 files for as
little as 10¢ a show. Click Old
Time Radio.
In
2003, Jim Trelease's Web site was one of 22 selected for
inclusion in the American Library Association's "Great
Web Sites" for kids. The entire list can be
found online at: www.ala.org/greatsites.
The
best public speech Jim Trelease has ever heard was
delivered by Pultizer-winner Thomas
Friedman, explaining
how he came to write his bestseller, The World
Is Flat. You can hear the speech in its entirety
at Friedman
speech.
•
• How to read a book you DON't want to read • • Jim's
nine-minute video can
be seen on YouTube and
Vimeo now,
and can be embedded freely in your school or library web
page. It also can be viewed here.
Aimed at reluctant teen and preteen readers, it applies as
well to
reluctant adult readers—maybe to us all.
WEEKLY
FEATURES: EACH WEEK
the site features a
Read-Aloud Choice of
the Week (from either new titles or favorites
listed in the Treasury of The Read-Aloud
Handbook) and a Weekly
Essay on education matters by Jim Trelease or others.
BOOKS
AND TIES THAT BIND — for 3,218 straight nights A
single-dad and his daughter ran a read-aloud streak from
elementary school to her first day at college, from Baum
to the Bard. The end result was an iron-clad bond with
each other as well as with books. And one more thing:
a 3.94 grade-point average for 4 years of college. Dad-Daughter
streak raises the read-aloud bar.
HAVE
YOU TRIED "WORDLE"? This intriguing online application
is a hot tool for political speechwriters but can have
very
diverse
uses in the classroom — from creating
word-cloud poems to teaching
writing in graphic terms. Intrigued?
Read on at WORDLE.You'll
love it.
FILM
AND AUDIO PROGRAMS Jim
Trelease's programs are now available in CD and DVD formats,
complete with an additional 25 minutes as a CD-bonus and an 8-minute
DVD bonus. Author Wilson
Rawls'
(Where the Red Fern Grows) heart-warming life story,
told in his own words, also is available as a CD. Details at Products.
To
search this site, use the Google search
engine to the left. You can also consult the Site
Contents page. Occasionally Google reports
older, out-of-date pages ("404
Error") which can usually be found using
the Internet
Archives (pasting the missing URL
into
the "WayBackMachine" space).
COPYRIGHT NOTICE Trelease on Reading is copyright 2006,
2007, 2008, 2010, 2011 by Jim Trelease and Reading Tree
Productions.
All rights reserved. Any problems
or queries about this site should be directed
to:
Reading Tree Webmaster
The
Debate About Online Reading
Ohio
principal apologizes for what students missed while
pursuing higher test scores.
The
best public speech Jim Trelease has ever heard was
delivered by Pultizer-winner Thomas
Friedman, explaining
how he came to write his bestseller, The World
Is Flat. You can hear the speech in its entirety
at Friedman
speech.
