Best-Selling Author Jim Trelease to Visit Seward!

Teachers, parents, and general public invited

October 14, 2003

The Friends of the Seward Memorial Library have arranged for author Jim Trelease to address parents, teachers, and the general public on Wednesday, October 29, at 1:00 pm at the Seward High School Theater.  Trelease is the author of The New York Times bestseller, The Read-Aloud Handbook.  He will speak on "Reading Aloud:  Motivating children to make books into friends, not enemies."

There will be no school on October 29, as this is a professional development day for the faculty, entirely devoted to reading and writing issues.  During the morning, reading and writing specialists Lynette Block of ESU #6, and Jeanette Jackson, formerly of  ESU #7, will work with teachers on reading and writing, comprehensive strategies for vocabulary development and text structures, and inferential skills.  During the afternoon, when Trelease delivers his address, the School District of Seward welcomes and encourages parents and other adults interested in literacy to join us for this great presentation.

"American literacy scores," Trelease declares, "are due in large part to the fact that two-thirds of our children don't like to read.  No player in the NBA was born wanting to play basketball.  The desire to play ball or to read must be planted.  The last 25 years of research shows that reading aloud to a child is the oldest, cheapest, and most successful method of instilling that desire.  Shooting baskets with a child creates a basketball player;  reading to a child creates a reader."

For 20 years Trelease was an award-winning artist and writer for a daily newspaper in New England.  During this period he visited hundreds of classrooms as a school volunteer, talking with students about the joys of reading.  Those visits, combined with his nightly reading to his own two children, became the springboards to his national bestseller that spent 17 weeks on The New York Times list.  Four American editions have followed, along with British, Australian, Chinese, and Japanese editions, with more than a million and a half copies in print–the all-time bestselling guide to children's literature for parents and teachers.  Since 1985, Delaware, Virginia, West Virginia, and Hawaii have developed state-wide programs based upon it.

Trelease has also compiled two bestseling anthologies of favorite stories for reading aloud.  The first is Hey! Listen to This, for kindergarten through fourth grades;  the second is Read All About It!, aimed at preteens and teens.

In his lecture presentation, Trelease uses an anecdotal style that rings with humor and enthusiasm.  While the program is about children's reading, its content is aimed at an adult audience.  Citing dozens of titles and demonstrating the simple techniques involved in reading aloud, Trelease traces its need from the cradle to adolescence.

The father of two grown children, Trelease also addresses common parent concerns like reading in bed, sports-obsessed fathers, and television–including heartening examples of families that have excelled when the TV viewing is controlled.  A nationally recognized speaker, Trelease has been a featured presenter for most of the major reading and library associations of America, the subject of three "Dear Abby" columns, and his seminars are usually booked a year in advance.

Following Trelease's hour-long presentation on October 29, there will be books available for purchase and autographing.  To read an open letter to parents (and teachers) from Jim, please open this link.

For more information on Jim Trelease, please visit his website, which is listed below.