Madness in the air - books and basketball!

My son’s frantic search for the reported scores so that he could fill in his brackets reminded me that it’s March and there’s basketball madness in the air.

I’m on spring break this week; good thing there was no class yesterday or today. With the gorgeous weather we’ve been having, there was bound to be major case of spring fever going around.

What do basketball and spring fever have in common? Maybe it’s that they both come around at the same time of year.

And just in time for spring fever (and something to do on days that aren’t as spring-like as we might want), teachers and parents may want to think about a Battle of the Books (BoB).

There’s a national BoB sponsored by School Library Journal (opens in a new window)). In this battle, there’s a face-off between two books — decided by children’s book authors until only 2 of the original Sweet 16 remain. It’s up to the National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature, Katherine Paterson (opens in a new window), to make the final decision.

There’s another BoB going on at my sister’s school in Southwest Florida. Her school has a diverse community with many children and families who are considered at risk. But the staff and certainly the children and their families value books and reading.

Their iteration of the BoB should be a fine fit.

The county’s official site (opens in a new window) for the BoB defines elementary participants as grades 3 and up, but there’s no reason that younger children — even as young as pre-kindergarten and kindergarten cannot be involved.

I’ve learned that young children can provide amazing insight into books when they are exposed to them regularly — and if adults listen to them. Children’s observations about what they’ve read with teachers or parents are often discerning, Some have even made me look at books differently.

So, just as my son’s b-ball brackets fill up, let’s fill up the Battle of the Books brackets.

And welcome Spring!