A b o u t   t h i s   I m p o r t a n t   N a t i o n a l   E f f o r t 

The Soho Center's  NATIONAL CHILDREN'S LITERACY INFORMATION  project includes two major elements that will be freely distributed and available to all interested parents and child care providers nationwide -
 

  Two NATIONAL CHILDREN'S LITERACY VIDEOS ^tm

  The NATIONAL CHILDREN'S LITERACY WEBSITE ^tm

The two highly-produced NATIONAL CHILDREN'S LITERACY VIDEOS (one especially for parents and one for child care providers) will interpret what's known about children's literacy and demonstrate what can be done to enhance it in both home settings and in family child care settings.  These highly-produced videos will present this important information in an easy to understand way which motivates parents and child care providers to make the most of their "five years of opportunity" with children before children start school and to continue supporting children's literacy once they enter school.

The Soho Center plans to distribute 5,000 free copies of the NATIONAL CHILDREN'S LITERACY VIDEOS to public libraries, USDA Food Program Sponsors, and other groups working with parents and child care providers to enhance children's literacy nationwide.  Initial development and distribution will be in Virginia with free national distribution shortly thereafter. 

The NATIONAL CHILDREN'S LITERACY WEBSITE will include hundreds of articles and tips for parents, providers, and organizations that work with providers - an easy-to-access source of information they can use to enhance children's literacy and school success.  A sneak preview National Children's Literacy Website is now on-line.  Click Here to take a look!

And, according to Jeanna Beker, Executive Director of the Soho Center, who is   spearheading the NCLI efforts, "In addition to helping parents and caregivers all across America get kids on the path to literacy,  this project will give significant, needed support and quality materials to literacy groups, small and large, all across the land - all at no cost to them or those they work with.  This is harnessing the real power of technology - vast reach at low cost."

 

N C L I ' s   S u p p o r t e r s 

The NCLI already enjoys wide technology support and initial foundation funding.  Here are the details.

The UPS Foundation has given the NCLI a start-up grant of $97,500.  The UPS Foundation, founded in 1951, supports education and human affairs issues.  Its unique philanthropic structure distributes approximately $29.5 million yearly throughout the United States. "Now, more than ever, is the time for the corporate world to make investments that support organizations which are working to develop communities nationwide," say Gary Lee, past Executive Director of the UPS Foundation. The Soho Center is proud to be part of this effort. 

And Hewlett-Packard, which awards a few national grants each year to help children enter school ready to learn, announced a $26,000 technology grant to the NCLI - including four high-end Vectra PCs, four 21" monitors, four LaserJet printers, four large-capacity tape back-ups, specialized video graphics cards, a color scanner, digital camera, and more. HP's donation will allow us to greatly upgrade and streamline our office operations and will help with our video and web development efforts.

In addition, we have received funding, hardware, and software support from -

(CLICK   for detailed summary of selected donations.)

N C L I    B o a r d    o f    A d v i s o r s 
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The Board of Advisors for the NATIONAL CHILDREN'S LITERACY INFORMATION project includes some of the best-known and most-respected children's authors, illustrators, literacy experts and educators, and librarians in the nation -
Bernice Cullinan is chairing the NCLI Board of Advisors.

NCLI Board Members include -

Jan Brett, Norman Bridwell, Marc Brown,
Eve Bunting, Tomie dePaola, David Elkind, 
Lee Galda, Charlotte S. Huck, Miriam Marecek,
Hannah Nuba, Judith Rovenger, Margot Kaplan-Sanoff, 
Dorothy S. Strickland, Caroline Ward, Jane Yolen, 
Paul O. Zelinsky, and Charlotte Zolotow

(NOTE:  You can scroll down the list below for details
on each member or click on a member's name above and 
jump directly to their particular write-up.)

Bernice Cullinan -

The NCLI Advisory Board is chaired by Dr. Bernice Cullinan, the distinguished past President of the International Reading Association and currently President of its Reading Hall of Fame.  Dr. Cullinan is on the 1998 National Council of Teachers of English Nominating Committee.  She has authored or co-authored numerous publications, including Literature and the Child ; Language, Literacy, and the Child;  Helping Your Child Learn to Read;  Read To Me: Raising Kids Who Love to Read;  Let's Read About . . .  Finding Books They'll Love to Read;  Invitation to Read: More Children's Literature in the Reading Program;  A Jar of Tiny Stars: Poems by NCTE Award-Winning Poets;  Three Voices: Invitation to Poetry Across the Curriculum;  75 Authors and Illustrators Everyone Should Know;  Pen in Hand: Children Become Writers;  and  Fact and Fiction: Literature Across the Curriculum .  Dr. Cullinan has served as Chair, Advisor, or Board Member of Ranger Rick Magazine, WGBH Children's Programs (the Arthur series), the Teacher's Choice Project, The New Advocate, the Ezra Jack Keats New Writer Award Selection Committee, the Caldecott Award Selection Committee, and the National Council of Teachers of English Editorial Board.

CLICK TO GO BACK TO LIST OF BOARD MEMBERS

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Joining the NCLI Advisory Board is noted children's author Jane Yolen.  Jane Yolen has been called the Hans Christian Andersen of America and the Aesop of the 20th century because of her many fairy tales and storybooks.  She is the author of over 200 books for children, young adults and adults, and hundreds of stories and poems.  Ms. Yolen is past president of SFWA (Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America) and a member of the Board of Directors of SCBWI (Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators) since its inception.  Among her many award-winning books are Owl Moon (Caldecott, 1988), The Emperor and the Kite (Caldecott Honor Book, 1968), The Devil's Arithmetic (Jewish Book Award), The Girl Who Loved the Wind (Lewis Carroll Shelf winner), Piggins (winner of both the Nebraska Golden Sower Award and the New York State Charlotte Award), The Seeing Stick (Christopher Medal Award), Commander Toad in Space (winner of the New Jersey Garden State Award) and others.  Ms. Yolen has also been honored with three awards for the entire body of her work: The Kerlan Award, the Regina Medal, and the Keene State Children's Literature Award being given this year.

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Also joining the NCLI Advisory Board is Dr. Charlotte S. Huck.  Dr. Huck is the distinguished author of Children's Literature in the Elementary School (now in its 6th edition) - considered one of the preeminent and popular texts on how to use literature to teach reading to children.  As teacher, writer, researcher, and speaker, Charlotte Huck has encouraged thousands upon thousands of teachers to bring literature and the joys of reading to an untold number of children.  Charlotte developed the renowned graduate level program in children's literature at The Ohio State University, was past president of the National Council of Teachers of English, former chair of the American Library Association's Caldecott Medal Committee, and recipient of the Arbuthnot Award as the   Outstanding Teacher of Children's Literature.

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Also joining the Advisory Board is Marc Brown, best known as the creator of the beloved aardvark, Arthur.  Mr. Brown has written and illustrated almost 30 Arthur and D. W. (Arthur's little sister) books including - Arthur's Adventures : Arthur Meets the President,  Arthur's Baby,  Arthur's Pet Business,  Arthur's Birthday,  Arthur and the Scare-Your-Pants-Off Club,  Arthur's Family Vacation,  Arthur Babysits, and Arthur Goes to Camp.  He has also illustrated 12 other books with his wife, author, illustrator, and psychologist Laurie Krasny Brown - including the bestselling Dinosaur's Divorce.  Recently, Mr. Brown won an Emmy for the Arthur series. 

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Joining the Advisory Board this week is David Elkind, Professor of Child Development and Senior Resident Scholar at Tufts University.  He is Past President of the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC).  Dr. Elkind is the author of 12 books - including Miseducation - Preschoolers at Risk, The Hurried Child: Growing Up Too Fast Too Soon, Child Development and Education, Studies in Cognitive Development, The Child's Reality: Three Developmental Themes, The Child and Society, and others.  More information soon!

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Also joining the Advisory Board is Norman Bridwell, award-winning creator of the highly-popular children's books about Clifford, the big red dog.  Since 1962, Mr. Bridwell has written and illustrated 30 Clifford adventures including  -  Clifford's ABC, Clifford and the Big Storm, Clifford Gets a Job, Clifford at the Circus, Clifford El Gran Perro Colorado, Clifford : Treasury 1, Clifford : Treasury II, Clifford and the Big Parade, Clifford and the Grouchy Neighbors, Clifford Barks!, Clifford Counts Bubbles, Clifford Follows His Nose,  Clifford Gets a Job, Clifford Goes to Hollywood, The Clifford Grow Chart, Clifford Takes a Trip, Clifford the Big Red Dog, Clifford the Firehouse Dog, Clifford the Small Red Puppy, Clifford Wants a Cookie, Clifford's Animal Sounds, Clifford's Bathtime, Clifford's Christmas, Clifford's Family, Clifford's First Autumn, Clifford's First Easter, Clifford's First Valentine's Day, Clifford's Good Deeds, Clifford's Halloween, and many more.  He has also written and illustrated 40 other books - includingThe Witch Next Door, A Tiny Family, Kangaroo Stew, How to Care for Your Monster, and many others.

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Also joining the Advisory Board is Hannah Nuba.  Ms. Nuba is the Program Coordinator of the New York Early Childhood Resource and Information Center (ECRIC), an internationally recognized pioneering program that has redefined the way public libraries serve children from birth to age eight. She has organized thousands of educational workshops for parents and professionals, created the prestigious Ezra Jack Keats New Writer Award project, and been an Advisor to the Children's Television Workshop Family Living Book Series. She is the author of numerous articles on children's reading including the long-running Children's Bookshelf column in the Ladies Home Journal Parents Digest.  She is the co-editor of several books including Children's Literature: Developing Good Readers, Infancy: A Guide to Research and Resources, and Resources for Early Childhood: A Handbook.  Her newest book is Books! Books! Books! Growing Active Readers in the Early Childhood Classroom.

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Also joining the Advisory Board is Paul Zelinsky.  Paul Zelinsky is the 1998 Caldecott Medal winner for best illustrated children's book of the year, Rapunzel.  In 1994, his Swamp Angelwas a Caldecott Honor book and a New York Times Best Illustrated Book of the Year. His Rumpelstiltskin and Hansel and Gretel received Caldecott Honors as well.  He has illustrated both his own work and books by noted children's authors - including Beverly Cleary's Dear Mr. Henshaw (winner of the Newbery Award, New York Times Outstanding Books of the Year and the
Christopher Award) and Ralph S. Mouse.  In addition, his The Maid and the Mouse and the Odd-shaped Housewas a 1981 New York Times Best Illustrated Book and a School Library Journal's Best Book of the Year.  Mr. Zelinsky's work also includes the popular mechanical book, The Wheels on the Bus; The Lion and the Stoat; and many other award-winning books.

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Also joining the Advisory Board is Jan Brett, 1998 winner of the American Booksellers Children's Book of the Year Award for her book, The Hat.  Ms. Brett has written, retold, and/or illustrated over 30 books for children including The Night Before Christmas, Comet's Nine Lives,  Armadillo Rodeo,  Christmas Trolls, Trouble with Trolls, Berlioz The Bear,  The Wild Christmas Reindeer,  The First Dog,  Annie and the Wild Animals,  Fritz and the Beautiful Horses,  Town Mouse, Country Mouse,  The Mitten,  Beauty and the Beast,  Goldilocks and the Three Bears,  The Owl and the Pussycat,  The Twelve Days of Christmas,and others.

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Also joining the NCLI Advisory Board is Tomie dePaola.  Mr. dePaola's career as a professional artist and designer paralleled his success as an author. He has been published for over 30 years and has illustrated nearly 200 books and written the stories for one-third of those books.  He is 1998 recipient of the Keene State College Children's Literature Festival Award given each year to an author or illustrator who has made outstanding contributions over a period of at least ten years and whose body of work shows variety and diversity while maintaining the highest standards in literature for children. Other awards include the Aesop Award for Christopher the Holy Giant, the Golden Kite Award Honor Book for What the Mailman Brought, the Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor Book for The Friendly Beasts: An Old English Christmas Card, the Golden Kite Award for Giorgio's Village, and the Caldecott Honor Book Award for Stega Nona. Other books include - Days of the Blackbird, Clown of God, The Art Lesson, Charlie Needs a Cloak, Nana Upstairs & Nana Downstairs,  Bill and Pete, The Night Before Christmas, Tomie dePaola's Mother Goose; The Legend of the Indian Paintbrush,  Tom, and Now One Foot, Now the Other.

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Also joining the Advisory Board  is Charlotte Zolotow, noted children's author and children's book editor. She is the author of more than 70 picture books for children.  For her book,  Mr. Rabbit and the Lovely Present (illustrated by Maurice Sendak), she is recipient of the Caldecott Honor, Newbery Honor, New York Times Outstanding Book of the Year, Best Book of the Year by the School Library Journal, and the ALA Notable Book Award.  Other award-winning books include - William's Doll, The Storm Book, Do You Know What I'll Do?, My Grandson Lew, The Unfriendly Book, Someone New, and many others.  Additional honors include the Christopher Award, Harper Gold Medal Award, several ALA Notable Children's Book Awards, and the Kerlan Award for "her singular attainments in the creation of children's literature."  As an editor of over one hundred children's books, Ms. Zolotow was responsible for encouraging the careers of many noted writers and illustrators.  In 1991, the American Library Association adopted a resolution acknowledging "her far-reaching contribution to children's literature." 
 

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Also joining the Advisory Board is Eve Bunting.  Ms. Bunting has written more than 160 books for children, ranging from picture books to novels for young adults.  Ms Bunting is on the Board of Directors of the Society of Children's Book Writers and The Writer magazine.  Many of her books are praised because of her honesty and relevancy to current events.  Her honors include the Golden Kite Award from the Society of Children's Book Writers, the Southern California Council on Literature for Children and Young People Award, the PEN Los Angeles Center Literary Award for Special Achievement in Children's Literature, and the Edgar from the Mystery Writers of America.  Ms. Bunting's works includes such favorites as The Night Tree, Smoky Night, The Wall, Jumping the Nail, Hideout, Fly Away Home, and Nasty Stinky Sneakers, A Day's Work, Happy Birthday Dear Duck, The Blue and the Gray, Cheyenne Again, Coffin on a Case, Dandelions, Day Before Christmas, The Day the Whale Came, A Day's Work, Face at the Edge of the World, and many others.

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Also joining the Advisory Board is Caroline Ward, 1998/1999 President Elect, Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC).  Ms. Ward served as Judge for the Ragazzi Prize (Bologna Book Faire, Bologna, Italy), Chair of the ALSC John Newbery Medal committee, and as a member of the Board of Directors of the United States Board on Books for Young People (USBBY), among others.  Ms. Ward is head of Children's Services at the Brooklyn (NY) Public Library where she coordinates and develops system-wide activities, programs, and collections for a culturally diverse population of 2.3 million people.  We welcome her considerable experience as a distinguished librarian specializing in children's services to this Board.

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Also joining the Advisory Board is Dr. Dorothy S. Strickland.  Dr. Strickland is about to receive the 1998 National Council of Teachers of English Outstanding Educator in the Language Arts Award.  She is the State of New Jersey Professor of Reading and has held elective office in the National Council of Teachers of English.  She is past President of the International Reading Association and the Reading Hall of Fame.  Dr. Strickland is the recipient of the 1994 National Council of Teachers of English Rewey Bell Inglis Award as Outstanding Woman in English Education and the International Reading Association's Outstanding Teacher Educator of Reading Award.  She has authored, co-authored, or edited - Language Literacy and the Child, Emerging Literacy: Young Children Learn to Read and Write,  Educating Black Children: America's Challenge,  The Administration and Supervision of Reading Programs, Family Storybook Reading,  Listen Children: An Anthology of Black Literature,  Teaching Phonics Today, Families: Poems Celebrating the African American Experience, and Process Reading and Writing: A Literature Based Approach.   Recently, Dr. Strickland served on the National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences to study and report on research related to young children's literacy development and its implications for America's educational practice.

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Also joining the NCLI Advisory Board is Lee Galda.  Dr. Galda is Professor of Children's Literature at the University of Minnesota and respected author of many books and articles dealing with children, child development, and literacy.  Her books include Literature and the Child (1998); Language, Literacy, and the Child (1997);  and Play, Language and Stories: The Development of Children's Literate Behavior. She has contributed major writings to Language Arts, Reading Research Quarterly, Research in the Teaching of English, British Journal of Educational Psychology, The Journal of Experimental Psychology, The Elementary School Journal, and many other professional journals. Dr. Galda has been on the editorial and review boards of The New Advocate, Reading Research Quarterly, Journal of Literacy Research, Journal of Children's Literature, Language Arts, The Reading Teacher, Research in the Teaching of English, and others.  She was Children's Books Department editor for The Reading Teacher for four years. 

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Dr. Miriam Marececk is Professor of Children's Literature at Harvard Graduate School of Education.  Working under an Annenberg Grant, she is also the Literacy Standards Specialist to the Boston Public Schools with extensive previous teaching experience in the literacy field at Wheelock College, Tufts University, and Bank Street College. Dr. Marecek is on the Advisory Board for Boston City Hospital's "Reach Out and Read" program, is past President of Children's Literature and Reading section of the International Reading Association, and is the author of numerous articles on literacy.  She has been a consultant to the Emmy Award-winning children's TV series, "A Likely Story" and served on the Advisory Board of The Electric Company (Children's Television Workshop). 

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Judith Rovenger -

Also joining the NCLI Advisory Board is Judith Rovenger.  She is Children's Services Consultant for the Westchester Library System where she develops and coordinates policies and services affecting children for the system's 38 public libraries.  She evaluates over 5,000 new children's books each year and lectures nationally to promote libraries and children's reading.  Ms. Rovenger is past Featured Monthly Columnist for the Sesame Street Parents Magazine, Judge for theNew York Times Best Illustrated Books,  member of the American Library Association Newbery Committee and Caldecott Committee, and Chair of the Joint Committee of the Association of Library Services to Children/Children's Book Council.   She is the author of numerous professional and popular articles on children's literature.

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Also joining the NCLI Advisory Board is Margot Kaplan-Sanoff, Ed.D., Associate Clinical Professor of Pediatrics at Boston University School of Medicine.  She is Director of Healthy Steps at Boston Medical Center providing an enhanced model of pediatric care including child development information, children's literacy, family support, and advocacy as part of routine well-child visits.  She is also Co-Director of Healthy Steps National Training providing curriculum materials, training, and technical assistance to 24 sites nationwide.  Dr. Kaplan-Sanoff has over 20 years of experience in early childhood, special education, and family support.  She is past Director of Project Visit, offering on-site in-service training to child care providers on educational and child development issues.   She is the author and co-author of numerous professional publications on meeting the needs of high-risk children.

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National Need, National Reach
 

Children's literacy is important for America.  The Soho Center plans to distribute 5,000 free copies of the NATIONAL CHILDREN'S LITERACY VIDEOS to public libraries, USDA Food Program Sponsors, and other groups working with parents and child care providers to enhance children's literacy nationwide.

The NATIONAL CHILDREN'S LITERACY VIDEOS follow up the Soho Center's successful and well reviewed video  - The Business of Family Child Care.  This highly-produced, 25-minute video features Tom Copeland, Redleaf's nationally known tax and business expert; Jeanna Beker, Director of the Soho Center; and lots of family child care providers. 

For more information and reviews of this important video, click  here.