Here’s a story from the Raleigh-Durham-area News Observer about BookPALS.com or Performing Artists for Literacy in Schools. The story focuses on the StoryLine Online aspect of the project in which youngsters can have favorite books read to them by the likes of Hector Elizando and Elijah Wood.
There’s some interesting commentary by Elizabeth Hearne, professor of children’s literature at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and storytelling scholar:
I’m not saying these audio-visual, Internet performances are wrong or bad. But we do need to be aware that they’re no substitute for face-to-face, live action.
BookPals
I was surprised to read about BookPals as via the Net. While I’m in a middle school, BookPals has been marketed to our elementary school libraries in New Hanover County as a real person who comes to read to the students. In looking at the BookPals site, I see the Carolinas BookPals does list that. Maybe because Wilmington, NC, is home to some movie/tv filming, we have more actors available? Interesting either way it is marketed.
Gayle Keresey