Let’s Go!
Posted February 16, 2021 by Amie Grosshans
Classes started this week and I’m ready. I’m taking LIS 481: Library Collections and Materials for Children and it’s my last class at Simmons. I’m excited and a teeny bit nervous. I can’t believe I’ll be graduating in May and officially starting my librarian life. I feel like I just started but that was actually two years ago. Time really flies!
Books were incredibly important to me as a child, which is part of the reason why I chose to take this class. I got my first library card when I was four or five years old and spent many happy hours in the children’s department of my local library. It’s been a long time since then and my nephews are both teenagers now, so I haven’t read any children’s books in a while. But I have been working once a month at my local library and seen many children’s books with adorable titles and illustrations, and I just love reading through them. The topics, styles, and points of view have changed a lot since I was young. There is also a lot more diversity in children’s literature now, and I think that is exciting. I really want to learn more about the changes and trends in children’s literature. Plus, I’d like to learn about how children’s books are written and how they correspond with a child’s reading and learning level. There are picture books, multiple levels of easy readers, transitional readers, chapter books, and more.
Plus, I’m looking forward to reading children’s books as an adult. Obviously, I’m older now and have much more life experience than when I was a child, and I’m going to take this with me when I read these books now. It might be challenging to put myself back into a child’s mindset, but it will also be eye opening. I’m sure I’ll notice a lot more subtleties and complexities than I did before. I’m also sure I will find some objectionable or questionable content in books that I used to love as a child. That’s ok, too. Times and perspectives change, and sometimes books don’t keep up with those changes. But I’m getting ahead of myself. Right now, I’m looking forward to diving into my first week and exploring picture books. I can’t wait!