PPT for Panel: Reading Everywhere: Scanning the Reading Environment

2nd readercon ppt from Zarah Gagatiga

Filipino Friday: Books and Friends

Books and Friends: Are you a part of a book club? If yes, what made you join one? What’s your favorite activity that you have with them? If you’re not a part of one, will you consider joining one? Why or why not?

This Friday meme topic is all about books and friends. This is such a wonderful topic to write about. I am more excited to share this meme with the rest of the bloggers involved in Filipino Friday because, books and friends have made Filipino Friday possible. We may not know each other personally, but the meme has connected us in more ways than one through books and reading. Yes, we all are avid readers and book lovers. The window to friendship, if not, goodwill and mutual respect, is very much open. That's why, this meme reminds me of books I love and fond memories of friendship.

When I was in sixth grade, I read the Hardy Boys series and its female counterpart, Nancy Drew. I read Encyclopedia Brown and the Bobsey Twins. My seatmate in class, Amado Bonifacio Alto, happened to have read the same series, except for Nancy Drew and Bobsey Twins. He also read poetry. How "geekily" cool is that?! I was even surprised how he knew about science books and encyclopedias.  Our reading fodder was textbooks. Our trips to the school library was close to null. I read because my mom brought home books. So, to discover another soul with the same reading insterest as mine was a delight. I was not alone in my strangeness.

JK Rowling's letter and autographed photo. Collector's item, I say!

In high school, I was friends with readers. We were a group of four but we all belonged to one big barkada of six to eight girls. We read romance books from Sweet Dreams series to Sweet Valley High to Harlequin Romance series. Even the Pinoy romance books were part of our book exchanges: Gilda Olvidado, Helen Meriz, Nerisa Cabral, up to Liwayway's Laro sa Baga. Yes, that was my introduction to Pinoy erotica. Our tastes gradually expanded to foreign titles. I shared with my high school classmates the Newberry winners, Judy Blume, SE Hinton and Katherine Patterson. By fourth year high school, we got hooked on Erich Segal's Love Story, Jonathan Livingstone Seagull, The Little Prince to name a few. Among friends who read, I felt I belonged.

I am a reader. I am not alone.

Looking back, I wish we had more opportunities to read books in different genre and formats. I wished we had an adult reader to guide us. I regret not reading enough non-fiction, essays and poetry during high school. Freshman year in college surprised me with reading lists in the different content areas. I was in a shock. I recovered by finding solace and comfort in between the shelves and stacks of books at the Philippine Normal University Library. I kept up but missed my high school reading buddies. In time, I discovered dead writers make good friends too. Jane Austen wrote classy chic lit. Emily Dickinson's lyric poetry is so emo. Nick Joaquin knew early on that magic and reality can exist in one plane. No wonder I love JK Rowling so much.

So, to answer the question, I did not belong to any book club when I was in high school and in college. But, I reiterate, my friends during those precocious years were readers too.

My friend, Mona Dy. She will kill me for posting this. LOL

As far as this meme is concerned, I am glad to have done 1) moderation of a book club in school and 2) being a good friend to a voracious reader, Mona Dy, who gives me books as gifts once or twice a year.

Moderating a book club of young boys had been memorable since one activity we did was to write JK Rowling a letter. She replied. Well, her publisher, Scholastic made that possible. My friend Mona, to this day is a reading companion whom I share books I've read over coffee and long conversations about life in general. There are literacy groups I hold dear to my heart as well, namely, PBBY, KUTING and the LitCritters. The people in these groups are writers and literacy advocates whose  passion for reading have gone beyond book swapping and exchanges of reading adventures. I continuously learn a lot from them.

There's a long list of NGOs out there that set up libraries and reading centers all over the islands. Behind these NGOs are book lovers and readers who wish to share the gifts of literacy. I think the challenge for all book lovers and book clubs is this: to influence and inspire others who are outside their bubble to read. In a country like ours, where public libraries are challenged institutions, book clubs can bridge the gap between the readers who have limited access to books.

Filipino Friday: Reading Habits and Book Formats

Reading Habits and Book Formats
Where and how do you read? Can you read anywhere and everywhere, or do you need a certain place/mood/state of mind to get reading? Do you read more in the morning or at night or any minute that you can? Where and how do you usually read? Are you exclusively for print, or do you go for ebooks more than print? Have you ever tried audiobooks?

 It's Filipino Friday once again! This time, joiners are asked to look at their reading habits. Here's my take.

Reading happens all the time and for different reasons. We read signs to find our way. We read faces of people and their actions to understand unspoken social cues and underlying messages they could not speak of. We read because we're bored. We read to learn. We read to unlearn. We read because we want to impress. We read because we wish to be free.

Reading is part of the four communication art skills. The three being, listening, speaking and writing. All four integrate and are integral to comprehension, knowledge creation and survival. What makes reading a book extra special for me is that, I develop a personal relationship with the author and the creators of the book when I engage in it. Books I've read and loved are friends. Thank you to the team who dreamed of creating and producing such good friends.

So, I really get disappointed for badly created books. Sayang. What would have been a wonderful communion of ideas and experiences would never be. But then again, I remind myself, as a librarian, one tenet of readers' services is "Every book a reader. Every reader a book." And I have to respect and observe that law.

As far as my own reading choices go, I like reading both print and digital formats. I am still loyal to the printed book though, especially because I'm a school librarian and my advocacy is very much immersed in literacy development among young people. While digital natives of this generation can seamlessly operate on technological gadgets to read and learn, they need to develop the basic and fundamental literacy skills (from word recognition and vocabulary, comprehension and context building, study skills to work skills) Reading printed books can do that. These literacy skills are essential in learning more complicated skills and the new literacy - media literacy, digital literacy, information literacy, cultural literacy, family literacy, etc.

What's amazing is, the reading and learning of fundamental literacy skills and new literacy can happen simultaneously. It is thus important that all types of reading formats, genre and kinds are made available for the ardent reader.

The 2nd Filipino ReaderCon: United We Read

The 2nd Filipino ReaderCon: United We Read is on August 18, 2012 at the Filipinas Heritage Library, Makati City, held in partnership with Filipinas Heritage Library (FHL) and National Book Development Board (NBDB). 

For details of the program, you can visit the site. Just click the highlighted link. What makes this different from last year's ReaderCon is the launching of the Filipino Reader' Choice Awards (FRCA). From the blog, the Filipino RCA seeks to

engage the Filipino reading public in honoring their favorite Philippine-published titles. An initiative of the Filipino Book Bloggers Group, the Filipino RCA was established to develop awareness and appreciation of Philippine literature; recognize the reader’s role in creating the meaning and experience of a literary work; and give the readers a voice in the Philippine book industry.

Nomination forms are available online. What I like about this award is that, it is the reader, or for this matter, the collective Pinoy reader who makes the choice. I'm excited to know who the winners will be in the categories that the organizers conjured:

• Children’s picture book
• Chick lit
• Novel in English
• Novel in Filipino
• Comics / Graphic novels
• Short story anthology
• Essay anthology
• Poetry 

 In light of this event, yes, I am delighted because readers should respond actively on the books and materials that they engage in and encounter. The exercise promotes thinking. Engagement in book discussions and book talks affect the creative process of book making. Then again, how I wish school librarians can also begin an activity like this. Or, perhaps, as "keepers" of books and information, school librarians can set up small book award events in their learning communities as a way to celebrate reading, bringing books closer to children and teens. 

SR Ranganathan's law, books are for use, stands on firm legs in this digital age.