Far away places with strange-soundin’ names

Far away over the sea

Those far away places with the strange-soundin’ names

Are callin’, callin’ me

What are these “far away” locales that the singer extols? They are “places I’ve been readin’ about / In a book that I took from the shelf.” Yes. Reading is a transport. An enchantment. A marvel. We celebrate it every March with National Reading Month, a nationwide effort to promote literacy, foster a love of books, and encourage reading for all ages. The organization Reading Is Fundamental reminds us that “25 million children in the U.S. cannot read proficiently, which prevents them from achieving success in school, participating in all areas of life, and realizing their dreams.” These days, reading is also an act of war, an attack on right- and left-wing censors who seek to curtail access to information. Here are some of the best sites devoted to books and reading.

HISTORICAL

We take reading for granted sometimes, mostly because we are surrounded by words—emails at work, texts on our phones, street signs and billboards and ads (oh my!). Because of this, it’s easy to forget that books were once scarce commodities owned only by medieval 1 percenters. In fact, there was a time when printed words didn’t exist at all. These sites cover reading history in all of its glory.

The Evolution of the Book

The first “books” in no way resembled what we might curl up in bed with tonight. Rather, they were clay tablets, used by the Sumerians around 3500 B.C. Papyrus scrolls came next, followed by parchment, then wax writing surfaces. Paper finally was invented in China around A.D. 105. The Chinese also gave the world the first printed book in the 9th century. These facts and more are available from The Evolution of the Book, along with some arresting illustrations.

The Evolution of Writing

Before the development of those Sumerian clay tablets, something else had to be invented first: writing. Scholars believe three systems—one in the Near East, one in China, and one in Mesoamerica—arose independently, beginning with Mesopotamian cuneiform around 3200 B.C. Before that, people used small clay tokens to represent objects. For example, “a cone and a sphere stood respectively for a small and a large measure of grain.” Similar to The Evolution of the Book, The Evolution of Writing offers a timeline for the story of script.

History of the Book

A project of the UCLA School of Education and Information Studies, History of the Book “is a networked resource focused on the production and reception of materials related to the history of the book and literacy technologies.” More in-depth than The Evolution of the Book, this site covers prehistory to digitization, telling the complete narrative of literary technology.

Library History Round Table

The Library History Round Table (LHRT) is a division of ALA devoted to “promoting awareness and discussion of historical issues in librarianship.” One way it does this is through the annual Innovation and Advocacy in Library History Award and the Distinguished Service in Library History Award. LHRT also publishes a journal, Libraries: Culture, History, and Society, as well as a fabulous bibliography, American Library History: A Comprehensive Guide to the Literature.

The Beginnings of Dr. Seuss

Ever wondered why March is National Reading Month? The celebration was inspired by Theodor Seuss Geisel, aka Dr. Seuss, whose birthday was March 2. The books by Dr. Seuss—The Cat in the Hat, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, and many more—are credited with revolutionizing children’s literature, a quality that Seuss himself championed. In a 1960 article for the Los Angeles Times, Seuss wrote that “books for children have a greater potential for good or evil, than any other form of literature on earth.” The Beginnings of Dr. Seuss is a 2004 book drawn from tape recordings made in 1975 by Seuss himself and is full of insights into his life and work.

LITERACY

Reading isn’t natural. According to a study, spoken language is “hard-wired” into the human brain. Children acquire the fundamentals of language “effortlessly,” without formal instruction. Reading, however, must be explicitly taught. These sites delve into the practices and pitfalls of literacy inculcation.

Reading Education in the United States

K12 Academics is a tremendous site for education-related research and discussion. The subset Reading Education in the United States consolidates “government-funded scientific research on reading and reading instruction” in one place. Topics covered include reading competencies, English orthography, and statistical data. Especially interesting is the section History of Reading Education in the United States, which covers classics such as Rudolf Flesch’s 1955 book Why Johnny Can’t Read—And What You Can Do About It (full text available at the Internet Archive), which spawned follow-ups such as 1981’s Why Johnny Still Can’t Read and copycats like Morris Kline’s 1973 Why Johnny Can’t Add.

ALA Literacy Clearinghouse

“Literacy,” according to ALA, “is the ability to identify, understand, interpret, create, communicate and compute, using printed and written materials associated with varying contexts.” The ALA Literacy Clearinghouse gathers resources on literacy of different age groups—early childhood, teen, adult—as well as in different subject areas, such as health literacy, financial literacy, and information literacy.

National Center on Improving Literacy

Funded by the U.S. Department of Education (for now, anyway), the National Center on Improving Literacy is “a comprehensive national resource center dedicated to advancing evidence-based teaching methods for pre-K through grade 12 students with literacy-related disabilities.” More scientifically minded than the ALA Literacy Clearinghouse, this site has quite a lot of information on dyslexia. A great place to start is an article on the homepage called “The Science of Reading: An Overview.”

Literacy Research Commons

Another site chock-full of scientific resources is Literacy Research Commons, a project by researchers at the University of British Columbia and the University of California–Berkeley. The site links to a pair of books by the researchers, as well as a library of articles on reading comprehension, learning styles, the relationship of reading and writing, digital literacy, and more. There is also an online course, A Modern History of Literacy Education, complete with readings and videos.

Reading and Reading Disorders

The Reading and Reading Disorders site from the National Institutes of Health delves into conditions beyond dyslexia, such as alexia (acquired reading disorder, usually from a brain injury), hyperlexia (precocious early reading), and dysgraphia (a writing disorder). There is also information on diagnosis and treatment, including individualized education programs (IEPs).

‘I Was Wrong About Speed Reading: Here Are the Facts’

We’ve all heard about speed reading. But is it real? In 2015, blogger Scott Young decided to find out. After in-depth research into the phenomenon, he concluded in “I Was Wrong About Speed Reading: Here Are the Facts” that “there seems to be some mild evidence here in favor of speed reading.” Young reviews that evidence and offers several tips to improve one’s reading skills.

CENSORSHIP

The freedom to read is one of modern librarianship’s bedrock principles. For years, this principle has been under siege from individuals, political groups, and state and local governments. Book bans don’t stop people from buying those books: After Art Spiegelman’s graphic novel Maus was banned by a Tennessee school board in 2022, it shot up the Amazon bestseller list, topping out at number two. Still, they are a nuisance, if not an outright danger. These sites cover the long and short of censorship.

Freedom to Read Foundation

A nonprofit legal and education organization, the Freedom to Read Foundation defends the precepts of the First Amendment. Click on the Litigation & Courts section to read about some of the foundation’s judicial triumphs.

Office for Intellectual Freedom

ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom “is charged with implementing ALA policies concerning the concept of intellectual freedom as embodied in the Library Bill of Rights.” It sponsors Banned Books Week and other outreach programs. It also publishes the masterful Intellectual Freedom Manual (found in the Publications section). Make sure to check out the offerings on the office’s YouTube channel.

The First Amendment Encyclopedia

Maintained by the Free Speech Center of Middle Tennessee State University, The First Amendment Encyclopedia is one of the best and most comprehensive free sites on the subject, with more than 1,700 articles and case summaries by more than 200 contributors. A new feature is the free, downloadable ebook from the In the Classroom section, Teaching the First Amendment: Lessons in Liberty.

Book Bans

Librarians may not want to admit it, but censorship is not a black-and-white issue. Book bans have their proponents, and in some cases, they have a point. The Book Bans page from Brittanica breaks down the issue into pros and cons, with citations and links for further reading. Especially useful is the timeline of key court cases, starting with Evans v. Selma Union High School District (1924), in which a parent sued a high school after the library acquired 12 copies of the Bible. The court ruled that this did not “constitute instruction or an endorsement of religion.”