NEW: Ready to Read Michigan (RTRM) Reproducible materials are up on our website, www.Mi.gov/ReadytoRead. Feel free to download, use in storytime and make available in your library. Items include the following:

• RTRM Poster featuring the 5 Practices of Every Child Ready to Read*
• RTRM Parent & Caregiver Trifold
• RTRM Booklist
• RTRM Alphabet Mat*
• RTRM pre-made Activity Dice* and Fillable Activity Dice*
• RTRM Shape Dabbing Sheets

*Please note that some pieces above require 11"x17" paper.

Did you know that the Library of Michigan has been offering live, interactive webinar training on Best Storytime Practices with Story Be Told's Jenifer Strauss?  You can access past webinar recordings directly through our Webinar Archives page. The trainings all incorporate the 5 Practices of the Public Library Association's Every Child Ready to Read: Talk, Play, Sing, Read, Write. Also found on the archives site are recordings from the 2016-2017 ECRR webinar training series with Sue McCleaf Nespeca.  To learn about upcoming webinars and additional training opportunities from the Library of Michigan be sure to check our Continuing Education page for details. 

As you may have seen in the Library of Michigan’s March Dispatch Newsletter, Randy Riley wrote about the RFP process we’re engaged in to support the development of literacy for early readers. Specifically, we’re interested in adding full-text/full book content for early readers.

The technical scoring phase of the process has been completed for the 6 proposals we received and there were 3 eResource vendors (Gale, EBSCO, and Coughlin Capstone ) that passed technical scoring. We are now ready for phase 2 which is to test drive these eResources and share feedback.

There are two parts to this process.

1. Attend product demonstration webinars from each of the three vendors.
2. Participate in product trials with the products each vendor is offering.

To access the information you need to participate, please view this Google doc with all the details. 

MeL’s early reader product demonstration webinars are this week, with details found in the Google doc above:

• Tuesday April 16, 9-10:30 AM, EBSCO
• Wednesday April 17, 9-10:30 AM, Gale
• Wednesday April 17, 11-12:30 PM, PebbleGo by Capstone
  
  All product demonstration webinars will be recorded and the links to those recordings will be shared so if you can’t attend, the opportunity to view is still available.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out. And if you know of someone who may not receive posts from the listservs, please feel free to forward this to them. We would like to cast a wide net and invite as many as possible.

Many thanks for your participation in this process!

Liz Breed

Michigan eLibrary Coordinator
Library of Michigan
Michigan Department of Education
517-335-1497
breedl@michigan.gov
www.mel.org

Reading print books increases verbalization in toddlers and it increases interaction between parents and their todd, as opposed to e-books, according to a new study recently published.

Differences in Parent-Toddler Interactions With Electronic Versus Print Books was  published by Pediatrics (April 2019, Volume 143, Issue 4).

While the percentage of Americans reading electronic books has risen, Dr. Tiffany Munzer, University of Michigan's C.S. Mott Children's Hospital, told ABC News "The print book is really the gold star standard in eliciting positive interactions between parents and their children."  She went on to estimate that 30 percent of children read e-books at least once a week.

Learn more by reading the recent segment from ABC News: Toddlers Engage More with Print Books than with Tablets: Study (3/25/19).  

A Piglet Named Mercy
DiCamillo, Kate
ISBN: 9780763677534
If you're a fan of "Mercy Watson," you'll love this picture book version about the beginnings of this early reader star!

The Little Red Stroller
Furst, Joshua
ISBN: 9780735228801
A colorful picture book that depicts a variety of families as they pass one red stroller through a chain of children as they each out grow it. 

Home Is a Window
Ledyard, Stephanie
ISBN: 9780823441563
Poetic text and warm illustrations guide the young child through fears they may be feeling about a big moving-day in their lives, with a re-assuring ending of "home."