Sweet & Sassy Scribblers
​
  • Genres
  • Fiction
    • Books for Children
    • Fantasy
    • Thrillers
    • Mysteries
    • Women's Fiction
    • Science Fiction
  • Nonfiction
    • Well-being
    • Spiritual Psychology
    • Poems, Essays, Etc.
  • Heart Song Ghostwriting
  • MindSlap! - Spiritual Psychology
  • Let's Get Our Hands Dirty
  • The Scribblers

Is There Hope for Our Educational System?

5/31/2023

1 Comment

 
Picture
​I’ve been fussing for a long time about the decline of the American educational system. My rampage began the first time a cashier had no clue how to give correct change without the cash register telling her how much to give. What really got me ticked off was when her manager couldn’t figure it out either. 

I patiently stepped in and coached them. “All you have to do is count up from what I owe you, $3.42 to the amount I gave you, $5.00. Start with the 42 cents and get three pennies – 43, 44, 45. Then a nickel will bring it up to 50 cents and two quarters will make four dollars, and another single with bring it up to $5.00.” Heaven help us if I’d given her $5.02!

What hurts me the most is seeing someone who struggles with reading. Not being able to figure out an unrecognizable word makes understanding the text so difficult. About a year ago, I wrote an article about the current method, originally called three-cueing but now referred to as Reading Recovery, used in public schools to teach reading. Instead of being taught to sound out words, students are supposed to pick up cues from the accompanying picture. Unfortunately, after first grade, the pictures get few and far between. Then it's up to the child to predict (guess) what the word could be from how it is used in the text. If the sentences make sense, the reader must be getting the words right, or right enough. 

It Doesn’t Work, People! Its disastrous results have been proven countless times in studies and statistics. According to the National Assessment of Educational Progress, 32 percent of fourth-graders and 24 percent of eighth-graders aren't reading at a basic level. Fewer than 40 percent are proficient or advanced. But for some reason, this teaching method is still accepted.

I heard a report on NPR (National Public Radio) that rekindled my pet peeve, yet gave hope that reading instruction may go back to actually teaching kids how to read. School districts across the country are dropping Reading Recovery and taking a more science-based approach that focuses on the sounds of letters and how to figure out what the mystery word is.

My faith has been restored. Hopefully, more school systems will switch. Face it, all learning is centered on reading. With the gradual re-direction to phonics, maybe students will improve in other subjects, and teachers will be encouraged to teach more than just the test. 
​
Check out this NPR interview from last December. Hopefully, it’ll make you think seriously about this issue.

1 Comment

A Touch of Sassy

5/26/2023

0 Comments

 
Picture
0 Comments

What Are Americans’ Reading Habits According to Latest Survey?

5/24/2023

0 Comments

 
According to Pew Research Center, eBooks reached a decade high in 2021 with 30% of the American readers having read at least one book in this format. Also in 2021, the percentage of American readers who listened to an audio book also presented a new high of 23%.
 
It’s interesting to note that 33% of Americans read books in both print and digital formats (eBooks and audiobooks). Approximately another third only read print books. Surprise! Only 9% only read in the digital formats. Sadly, 23% read no books at all.
 
Although so many of us authors feel compelled to offer eBooks in this digital age, 65% of American readers read at least one print book in 2021. This was not the high of the decade, but it was a recovery from the Covid years. The average of books read by Americans in 2021 was 14 books, but the median number of books read by individuals was five. This is identical to the first year of assessing Americans’ reading habits in 2011. 
​
Do Education, Income, or Demographics Affect These Habits?
 
The figures from the recent survey by PRC indicate that college graduates are more likely to have read books in all formats compared to other educational levels. Urban readers have a bit of an edge on suburban and rural although it is not a large gap.
 
Despite what one might assume from book clubs and readers’ groups, men read about as many books as women. According to the survey, the percentages in the “read a book in any format” category indicate that people read less as they get older. I have to confess that this is not the case for me (I fall into the 65+ category). I admit that I haven’t read as many books in the last several years as I did earlier in this millennium, but I believe I’m reading more in a year than I did in my twenties. To  be fair, when I was in my twenties, print books were the only choice most of us really had. Audiobooks were available on cassette tapes in the 1960s and didn’t come out on compact discs until the 1980s. It was easier to just carry your book with you!  
 
Picture
Picture
What About the Reading Habits of Kids?
 
In both 1984 and 2012 PRC determined that 53% of nine-year-olds read for fun nearly every day. In 2020 it was down to 42%. Those who reported they never or hardly ever read for fun was 16% in 2020 compared to 9% in 1984. In the 2020 survey, it appears that American girls are more likely to read for fun than their male counterparts.
​
The bottom line indicates that in 2020 compared to 2012, every group of nine-year-olds across the racial spectrum read for fun less in a range of 9-12% declines.
 
Do you think social media is having an affect on this decline? As an older adult with no young children in my life, I can only consider what I observe. It seems that really young kids I see at stores and restaurants are totally engrossed in their cellphones. Maybe they’re reading a book? I have no idea, but it does make me wonder if surfing isn’t having a deleterious effect on their reading habits now and in the future.
 

Thoughts On the Subject
 
  • If you’re an author, do you feel Americans’ reading habits are having an economic effect on your bottom line?
  • If you’re an author, how do you feel about only offering the eBook format?
  • As a reader, do you agree with the survey by Pew Research Center?
  • As a reader, how do you feel about the reading habits of kids being affected by online surfing?
0 Comments

From A Toy to A Catalyst for Change

5/17/2023

0 Comments

 
The Evolution of a Slingshot was written by my late husband, John Dean Williamsen, after he had learned to read again in the aftermath of two strokes. This was a story he had been telling me about for years. I kept telling him to write it down. Enthralled by his success at learning to read again, he sat down and began to write. I was thrilled to see how well he did. As an editor, I only had to make the usual punctuation changes.
 
Although this is described as a coming-of-age novel, it revolves around a murder. I hope you enjoy it as much as those who’ve read it have.   
​
Picture
The Book Blurb
​

The Evolution of a Slingshot is a story of a boy whose life is often as raw and unfettered as the times. He lives in a world of tarpaper shacks and basement homes, of dusty roads and outhouses, of poverty and optimism, of the American Dream and justice snubbed.

In the late 1940s, while the country is recovering from the Great Depression and World War II, an eleven-year-old boy is simply trying to survive his small-town world in Illinois. The great tragedy in his life has been the mysterious murder of his father, which has turned his world upside-down. The fear that grows out of his loss leads him to cling to his brother, Ray, as a substitute father figure. Unfortunately, Ray is only four years older, and while seeking retribution for his father’s death, he is also struggling with his family’s expectations of his filling his father’s shoes.

After watching the way Ray handles the situation when Jake is attacked on his paper route, Jake recognizes how self-destructive his brother’s anger can be, and he is afraid for him. This strengthens Jake’s resolve to handle his problems himself. The slingshot, which was once a toy to Jake, has now become his only means of defense. His life continues to offer him opportunities to choose how to deal with confrontations and the loss of others close to him.

His struggle to make the right choices transforms his relationship with his slingshot. It is this evolving relationship that mirrors the changes in Jake’s inner psychology—the changes which mold his personality and shape his ideas of right and wrong. When he finds himself at the decisive moment where he has the means to avenge the wrongs his family has suffered, what will his decision be? His future now hinges on the choices he makes.


Picture
Picture
https://www.amazon.com/Evolution-Slingshot-Toy-Catalyst-Change/dp/1479302503
https://www.amazon.com/Evolution-Slingshot-Toy-Catalyst-Change-ebook/dp/B0099A2OAQ

0 Comments

Writing: Does It Get Easier or Harder?

5/10/2023

0 Comments

 
Picture
How writing feels to you can depends on many things.

• What's your mood at the moment you sit down to write? Depending on what it is, it can make writing hard or easy.

• Are you comparing your efforts to your last book, which you can clearly recall and have yet to lose the momentum you had, or to your first book for which the memory of your labor pains has dissipated? Both could persuade you that writing has become quite easy for you these days.

• Are you competing with yourself or someone else? This ego-driven activity always makes writing seem harder. 
​
• Are you seeking excellence? This has the power to motivate you, but it also has the power to stall you in your tracks. So, once again, writing can become easy or hard.

• Are you simply seeking to honor your talent by refining your expression through the means available to you? Then writing becomes easy because you meet that which would seem hard by simply expecting the best.

I know of many writers, including myself, who have started a novel only to put it aside to work on another idea. Later, sometimes years, we come back to it, and it flows as if there had never been a problem. Why? I think it comes back to one of those items listed above.

I feel the creative part of myself is almost like a separate entity from my day-to-day personality. It has moods and can be just as stubborn as the rest of me. When I write vers libre, my creative self is chomping at the bit to express itself. I have learned to give it room. It makes writing so much easier for me no matter what I am writing.

0 Comments

Kids Can Be Your Greatest Fan or Your Harshest Critic

5/3/2023

0 Comments

 
Picture
I enjoy writing children’s books.

Why, I can’t really say. One person hinted it was the measure of my mental capabilities. She said I think like a kid. I’m still debating whether to take that as a compliment or an insult.

At first, I never thought of writing and publishing children’s stories. Making up silly tales began as a keep-the-kids-busy activity to save my sanity.

My initial attempt at creating a story occurred when I was a novice preschool teacher many years ago. Occasionally, I had to improvise when my scheduled activities didn’t last as long as planned, and a quick substitute was called for on the spot. Mildred, a purple cow who barked like a dog and swam like a duck, was the best my frazzled mind could come up with during one of those gaps.

Believe me, Mildred was a one-time deal. The kids were not impressed, and they let me know their disapproval. Their critiques ranged from blank stares to yawns to walking away. Luckily, Dr. Seuss came to my rescue with his Green Eggs and Ham. Another teacher had noticed my plight, and like magic, the book appeared on the floor beside me.

However, I was not the only failure that day. The teacher who rescued me had the bright idea of cooking some green scrambled eggs by adding a few drops of blue food coloring. Her experiment went okay until the squirt bottle accidentally dropped into the bowl of raw eggs, splashing its contents all over the table, chairs, and nearby arms, legs, and clothes. That was another disaster we never repeated. You talk about unhappy polka-dotted children and their parents, too! Oh my!

We learned from our mistakes. As time passed, my improvised stories improved, transforming my pint-sized critics into fans.

Story time became their favorite part of the day. I experimented with writing longer stories, which the kids thoroughly enjoyed. The children and I also authored stories together with the young artists doing the illustrations. The proud kids took their books home with them. Hmmm…I wonder if any still exist.

After getting married and moving to another state, my work with kids came to an end and so did the stories. Yet, the opportunity to write again presented itself when my husband and I developed health issues and had to give up our aviation business. The first Patchwork Dog and Calico Cat stories were written on a legal pad and stored in a desk drawer. I was too busy with my freelance newspaper work to do much with them then. Eventually, my work slowed down, and Patchy and Calico were rescued from the drawer.

Returning to the original question concerning why I do this, I write children’s books because that’s what I’m comfortable doing. I’m extremely fortunate to be able to write. It’s such a thrill to read my stories to kids and listen to their giggles as Patchy gets into one mess after another.

The greatest reward I hope for isn’t fame or fortune but seeing young’uns laughing and having fun while going on adventures with Patchy and Calico.

However, my primary goal is to spread the joy of reading. I want to provide books that encourage kids to keep reading for the rest of their lives.
​
Could there be anything better than that?


Picture
​Patchwork Dog and Calico Cat - Book One

Print https://www.amazon.com/Patchwork-Dog-Calico-Greta-Burroughs/dp/1467989460/

Kindle & Kindle Unlimited
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006B9RSIQ/

Universal link  http://viewbook.at/patchyandcalicocat1

SassyScribblers.com 
www.sassyscribblers.com/books-for-children.html
​

0 Comments

    Categories

    All
    Books
    Genre Articles
    Guest Authors
    Holidays
    Inspiring Children
    Memes
    Scribblers
    Writing

    Book Genres

    Picture
    Mysteries
    Picture
    Children
    Picture
    Thrillers
    Picture
    Fantasy
    Picture
    Women's Fiction
    Picture
    Science Fiction
    Picture
    Poems, Essays, etc.
    Picture
    Spiritual Psychology
    Picture
    Well-being


    Archives

    July 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022

    RSS Feed

I will read forever because it lets me visit in my mind the worlds that I will never be able to see; it helps me put away the stresses of the day and relax into the rhythm of the story before me; it lets me bring to the surface and experience without regrets those feelings I hide away; it lets me re-experience the thrill of first love through someone else's eyes; it keeps my mind juiced so that it will never desert me; it is always there for me even when there's no one else. I will read forever no matter whether it is print or digital because the words will always call to me. ~ A Sassy Scribbler