I so love this story!!

This story was pretty widely reported, but we want to be sure you saw it. And – this is a great idea for reading more books to more kids. We could do this at CMLE!

Read through the article we link to below, and give this some thought. This could be something that CMLE staff organizes, and then we provide to everyone so you can share it with your own students and/or young patrons. It would be really fun to have all kinds of members make videos of yourself reading to kids, dogs, flowers, or nothing at all. We could collect these videos, and have them up online so kids at home could click and have a story read to them before bed – or anytime at all they would like to have a story!

(Just a small plug: this is one of the reasons it’s so useful to be part of a multitype library system! We will be able to gather members from all over the place to share their own love of books, reading, and reading to kids, and create a resource anyone will be able to share with their own community members. Yes: we are biased here, but we also know we have such interesting members across the 300+ organizations that make up CMLE that we feel very comfortable being biased in our love of library systems!)

Send us an email at admin @ cmle.org, or leave a comment below, if this is something you would like us to start at CMLE for everyone to use!

Check out this excerpt, and click on the link to get the entire article:

This elementary school principal reads books on Facebook to ensure her students have a bedtime story

“To foster a love of reading, elementary educators tell their students to read a book at night, or have someone read to them. One principal in Texas has made it personal: She snuggles into a pair of pajamas and reads to her students herself.

“I don’t know if they are read to or not at home,” said Belinda George, 42, a first-year principal at Homer Drive Elementary in Beaumont, in Southeast Texas.

George, often in a cozy onesie, opens Facebook Live on her phone each Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. As she reads a children’s book in her living room, anyone who goes to the school’s Facebook page can watch live. She calls it “Tucked-in Tuesdays,” and it’s become somewhat of a sensation at her school.

“Kids will come up to me Wednesday and say, ‘Dr. George, I saw you in your PJs reading!,” she said. “They’ll tell me their favorite part of the book.”

After watching George and listening to her animated character voices (and sometimes her funny asides) students will approach her to ask where they can find that book in the school library.”

This is such a neat idea!!! We link to the entire article about a library checking out dresses for formal events.

This is a program we can consider as a multitype system, for our school libraries. It would be tough for any one school or library to set up a program to check out dresses to students who may want to borrow one for prom or other formal events – but this is something we could do as a group!

If you think you have some students who could benefit from a program where they could borrow a dress for events, let me know. We could work together as a group to solicit donations, as this library did, and then make them available to your students

Ponder this. Talk with people around your school. Let’s see if some students might get some help through their school library to have successful formal events!

Check out the excerpt from the article below, and let’s talk!

33 San Diego County library branches collecting ball gowns to help teens’ dreams come true

“For many teenage girls, the prom, the quinceanera, the big night out – it’s all about the dress. But special occasion dresses are pricy. That’s why the County Library is playing fairy godmother.

All 33 County library branches are collecting gently used gowns now through April 15.

The dresses must be dry-cleaned, no more than five years old and come on a hanger. The apparel can be any style, size and length but must be stylish and appropriate for young women. Accessories like jewelry, evening clutches and bags are welcome, too. Shoes, however, aren’t being accepted.

The County Library works with the nonprofit organization The Princess Project to collect the gowns. Teens can sign up to attend the giveaway events by visiting the Princess Project website.

The Library’s giveaways take place at the El Cajon and Vista library branches but teens from any high school in the county can sign up. For hundreds of teens, these giveaway events help make their dreams come true.

They pick and choose from racks of gowns, try them on and twirl in front of full-length mirrors to see which dreamy confection is “the one.”

Many teens bring along a friend or their mother for second opinions on what looks best. For some moms, seeing their little girls try on gowns and transform into young women can be quite emotional.

Library staff members have seen it again and again in the seven years since the giveaways began.

“It’s not a true gown giveaway until Mom cries,” said El Cajon Youth Services Librarian Fumiko Osada. “We’ve had a lot of moms cry and thank us through their tears.” “