When fifth-grader Trip Kindleman, who does not like to read very much, is hit on the head by a heavy box and becomes a character in a series of different books--from a sports story to a science fiction novel to an adventure tale--his view of reading is changed forever.

Welcome to a library like no other! The doors swing open to reveal a magical place where characters pop off the pages of books, vowels sing, and words take on a life of their own.

At first, Trisha loves school, but her difficulty learning to read makes her feel dumb, until, in the fifth grade, a new teacher helps her understand and overcome her problem.

Bored with another normal, inky evening, bats discover an open library window and fly in to enjoy the photocopier, water fountain, and especially the books and stories found there.

Simple text and repetition of the letter "e" help readers learn how to use the "long e" sound.

"Natalie and Alphonse REALLY like books. Picture books with Dad, scary stories with Mom, and especially stories they remember or make up themselves. So when it's time for Natalie to learn to read, she thinks it will be exciting - she can have all the stories in the world now, and even read them to Alphonse. But when Natalie gets her first reading book, the letters look like squiggles and it isn't even a good story; it's just about a cat that can sit....

"Traditional summer reading programs need to be reimagined. Working groups of librarians, in partnership with the California Library Association and the California State Library, have done just that, creating and implementing outcomes- and outreach-basedsummer reading programs that speak directly to diverse and changing communities"--

A circular tale in which each new book character is reading about the next, beginning and ending with Charlie Cook.

"What is the value of a liberal education? Traditionally characterized by a rigorous engagement with the classics of Western thought and literature, this approach to education is all but extinct in American universities, replaced by flexible distribution requirements and ever-narrower academic specialization. Many academics attack the very idea of a Western canon as chauvinistic, while the general public increasingly doubts the value of the humanities....