Librarians and specifically those
working as children’s librarians are utilizing podcasts to better serve their
patrons. I discovered a wonderful
resource at the Sarasota Public Library. They present a variety of short
traditional children’s stories such as folk tales, fairy tales, tall tales, and
nursery rhymes podcasts that are funded by Kiwanis Club of South Sarasota. This
discovery led me to creating a children’s story podcast as well. Given the
assignment’s time span for this podcast, two to three minutes, I perused
several books that I felt were not too short or too long that fit the designated
time allotment. I chose a short story
titled, Little Gorilla written and
illustrated by Ruth Bornstein. With this podcast and all podcasts the material
is solely an audio experience. Therefore I would highly recommend getting a
copy of the book for children to see as they listen to the podcast. Little Gorilla is fictional juvenile
literature. The story content depicts unconditional love of family and friends
as a young gorilla begins to grow older. It is suitable for children ages two
and up and makes an excellent choice for librarians who need a short, fun story for
toddlers or as a suggested resources to give to parents and caregivers. I hope you enjoy
the story.
Below Long Link for podcast: LittleGorilla podcast
This is a great idea for a podcast. Podcasts such as these are definitely a good way to introduce children to the world of stories and literature. If the child is able to hold the book while they listen it will also allow them to help build early literacy skills and learn how words are pronounced. A class project for younger students could even be done in which they make up a story and illustrate it, with the teacher combining everything into a presentation that will play through automatically. The digital nature of such a project would make it easy to send home to parents as well. This would also work especially well for a child that enjoys a certain book or story to such a degree that they can listen to it being read multiple times a day.
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like the Sarasota Public Library has made an excellent resource available to parents and teachers. Of course, I would imagine that to create something like this and make it available on the library website that permission would need to be obtained from the author and/or publisher of the work. Granted, there are so many stories out there for children that are in the public domain these days.
To me, it seems like a smart idea to make podcasts for children's books. Some parents may have never been read to when they were younger and may feel uncomfortable reading to their own children. Parents may also not have a lot of time to spend reading books with their children. A read aloud podcast would be a great answer to both of these problems because parents are able to just play the MP3 or podcast for the child.
ReplyDeleteI loved your podcast. I think it is a great idea to have reading book podcast that children can follow as they are looking or reading also the book. I can imagine such podcast in a library's website and have different librarians or even the authors if they are available to participate in the podcast. I loved it, I am about to run and buy the book just to have it for my collection to read to my grandchildren.
ReplyDeleteFunny...our posts are quite similar. I also read a children's story...The Napping House. I also posted about the Sarasota Library's podcasts. I think they could do a lot more with it, though, as there is a very small collection. I agree, and also commented, that for a picture book, it would be best for the child to have the book in front of him/her in order to make the most of the experience. Great minds think alike :-)
ReplyDeleteI liked your use of the podcast because many parents are not sure how to read a book to their children or feel silly when doing so. Listening to various podcasts of books would help to build a confidence in parents and other professionals who have to do story time as part of their job. You have an excellent voice for reading children stories and I am slightly jealous. I always sound like an angry bear. You did such a good job telling the story that I think it would have value without the pictures.
ReplyDeleteThanks Brent. I enjoyed listening to your podcast as well. Truthfully, it was my love of children's and young adult literature that led me to library school. Looking forward to working as a youth librarian some day.
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