Colorado Libraries for Early Literacy has announced the 2025 CLEL Bell Picture Book Awards, an annual recognition of five high-quality picture books that provide excellent support for early literacy skills for young children. The five winning picture books exemplify the early literacy practices READ, WRITE, TALK, SING, and PLAY.
The Voice in the Hollow by Will Hillenbrand (Holiday House, 2023) has been named the tenth annual Floyd’s Pick Book Award winner, awarded by the Choose to Read Ohio (CTRO) Advisory Council in memory of children’s literature expert, advocate, and librarian Floyd Dickman.
Registration is open for Storytime Foundations, a FREE one-day conference on everything storytime, planned and produced by Ohio Ready to Read!
Storytime Foundations will take place in Columbus on Tuesday, April 30.
Luminous: Living Things That Light Up the Night by Julia Kuo (Greystone Kids, 2022) has been named the ninth annual Floyd’s Pick Book Award winner, awarded by the Choose to Read Ohio (CTRO) Advisory Council in memory of children’s literature expert, advocate, and librarian Floyd Dickman.
Centering Community VOICE, a new self-paced course for children’s services and outreach specialists, is now available for free through OCLC’s WebJunction. Centering Community VOICE is based on an Institute of Museum and Library Services grant, Project VOICE (Value-sensitive design of Outcomes Informing Community Engagement).
Ohio Ready to Read presents its FREE hands-on early literacy training workshop!
Open to all Ohio public library workers, the next Early Literacy 101 workshop will take place on Wednesday, December 4 at the Administration Building, Cuyahoga County Public Library, 2111 Snow Rd., Parma (NE Ohio). Register here! This workshop is open to all Ohio public library workers.
Are you thinking about offering kindergarten readiness programming at your library? Kindergarten Gear Up is designed to help both children and caregivers prepare for kindergarten. It is especially targeted towards families whose children have not attended preschool.
Think, Make, Try® is a three-step engineering design process designed for young learners ages 3-8 years. It builds upon children’s natural curiosity and supports creativity, critical thinking, and collaboration.
Dolly Parton's Imagination Library of Ohio provides young children a free book every month from birth to age five. Families in any Ohio county may enroll their young children in this program as early as birth. This opportunity is FREE for families.
Ohio is home to hundreds of notable authors, past and present. Jacqueline Woodson, Denise Fleming, Will Hillenbrand, Loren Long, Oge Mora, Andrea Wang, Cynthia Rylant, Drew Daywalt, Adam Rex, Daniel Kirk, Angela Johnson, David Catrow, and Tim Bowers are among the many picture book authors and illustrators who live in Ohio or have Ohio roots.
The Voice in the Hollow by Will Hillenbrand (Holiday House, 2023) has been named the tenth annual Floyd’s Pick Book Award winner, awarded by the Choose to Read Ohio (CTRO) Advisory Council in memory of children’s literature expert, advocate, and librarian Floyd Dickman.
Applications for Groundwork Ohio's Early Childhood Fellowship are now open. This dynamic leadership development program provides emerging leaders in the field with relevant training to boost their leadership skills and advocacy talents.
Colorado Libraries for Early Literacy has announced the 2025 CLEL Bell Picture Book Awards, an annual recognition of five high-quality picture books that provide excellent support for early literacy skills for young children. The five winning picture books exemplify the early literacy practices READ, WRITE, TALK, SING, and PLAY.
Every Child Ready to Read (ECRR), a national parent/caregiver outreach initiative, empowers public library workers to share early literacy knowledge with the caring adults in young children's lives. It was first rolled out in 2004, and is very familiar to children's services specialists. But what if you're a new children's librarian or specialist and you're hearing about ECRR for the first time? You've come to the right place!
