The American Library Association invited O’Neill Librarian Tasha Squires to co-present at the association’s annual national conference in New Orleans late last month. Mrs. Squires’s presentation, “Team Up for Striving Readers,” described how using large print with children of all ages and abilities can improve their learning and enjoyment of books. About 75 public and school librarians attended her session.
Mrs. Squires drew from personal experience to guide her presentation. She partnered with Thorndike Publishers for a large print book pilot program this year. Through this pilot, she received nearly $5,000 worth of free large print books for the O’Neill School Library and five classroom libraries.
“Students have discovered for themselves they enjoy this format and are now requesting it when they come into the library,” Mrs. Squires said. “After taking a survey of students who read large print, the vast majority of them reported they could read for longer periods of time, enjoyed the act of reading more compared with regular texts, and comprehended more of what they read.”
Mrs. Squires intends to continue her partnership with Thorndike Publishers next school year and looks forward to offering students the option to read a large print book.
“Giving the students choice is always extremely important, and helps to motivate students when they might be struggling to find something of interest to them,” she said. “Large print is just another piece in the puzzle to help students become effective readers.”