"Click and Jane" (NYTimes, 1/30/09)

Reading books is an operation with paper. Playing games on the Web is something else entirely. I need to admit this to myself, too. I try to believe that reading online is reading-plus, with the text searchable, hyperlinked and accompanied by video, audio, photography and graphics. But maybe it’s just not reading at all. Just as screens aren’t books.

"Well-Connected Parents Take On School Boards" (Wash Post, 01/30/09)

For a new generation of well-wired activists in the Washington region, it's not enough to speak at Parent-Teacher Association or late-night school board meetings. They are going head-to-head with superintendents through e-mail blitzes, social networking Web sites, online petitions, partnerships with business and student groups, and research that mines a mountain of electronic data on school performance.

"Coaches help lift up literacy in schools" (IndyStar, 01/29/09)

Coaches -- also called literacy teachers and literacy coordinators -- train teachers about reading strategies so students better understand what they're reading, retain the information and achieve a higher level of thinking.

"Early phonics success 'may wane' " (BBC, 01/26/09)

Initial success in improving the way young children are taught to read may peter out if teachers' commitment wanes, a government adviser has warned.

"Is Technology Producing A Decline In Critical Thinking And Analysis?" (Science Daily, 01/29/09)

As technology has played a bigger role in our lives, our skills in critical thinking and analysis have declined, while our visual skills have improved, according to research by Patricia Greenfield, UCLA distinguished professor of psychology and director of the Children's Digital Media Center, Los Angeles.

"Getting kids to choose reading over video games" (MSNBC, 01/28/09)

Getting kids to put down video games and pick up a book is especially challenging in the months following Christmas. Brand new video games and electronic toys, it seems, have much more allure to kids than than any literary classic or even popular title.

But the group Reading Is Fundamental urges parents to keep at it.

"It's Not the Books That Are Dog-Eared" (Wash Post, 01/29/09)

The children are enrolled in a program called Paws to Read gain self-confidence as readers by practicing the skill in front of a friendly, nonjudgmental dog.