The literary world is debating the value of the Newbery Medal. You know that shiny gold circle on kids books that lets you know it is special? People are wondering if some of the books that have won recently are so complicated and inaccessible to most kids, that it’s making kids not want to read. According to the Washington Post: of the 25 winners and runners-up chosen from 2000 to 2005, four of the books deal with death, six with the absence of one or both parents, four with such mental challenges as autism, and many of the rest deal with tough social issues.

From the Washington Post:

However the folks who award the Newbery Medal disagree, defending their choices:
The criterion has never been popularity,” said Pat Scales, president of the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Libray Association “It is about literary quality. We don’t expect every child to like every book. How many adults have read all the Pulitzer Prize winning books and the National Book Award winners and liked every one?

So what does this mean for children? Sadly it turns out that kids are reading less and less, according to the National Edowment of the Arts less than one-third of 13-year-olds are daily readers, a 14 percent decline from 20 years earlier. Among 17-year-olds, the percentage of non-readers doubled over a 20-year period, from nine percent in 1984 to 19 percent in 2004. Reading scores for 12th-grade readers fell significantly from 1992 to 2005, with the sharpest declines among lower-level readers. American 15-year-olds ranked fifteenth in average reading scores for 31 industrialized nations, behind Poland, Korea, France, and Canada, among others. Yikes! So the NEA is trying to change our view on reading through the The Big Read project. This NEA initiative is designed to restore reading to the center of American culture.  takepart and learn more about The Big Read

(Photo: Jek in the box flickr photostream)

Charlton Heston died Saturday night in his home at the age of 84. Heston appeared in many epic and well known films including Ben Hur, Planet of the Apes, The Agony and the Ecstasy and his first big starring role, The Ten Commandments.

My favorite Heston movie was Orson Welles‘ Touch of Evil in which Heston actually played a Mexican. The infamous opening scene is below (it’s all ONE shot..!)

But of course Heston was more than one of the biggest actors to ever grace Hollywood, he spent the greater part a good deal of his later years not acting, but making a political presence.

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Dr. Seuss would have turned 104 yesterday. Born Theodor Seuss Geisel, Dr Seuss (March 2, 1904 ” September 24, 1991) is best known for his classic books The Cat in the Hat, Green Eggs and Ham, How the Grinch Stole Christmas and One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish. But Dr. Seuss was more than just entertaining. He used his books and films, like The Lorax, to engage children and adults to think about racism, the environment and how they could make the world a better, fairer place.

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