Encourage Reading from the Start: Essays, Articles, and Interviews from the Field

Slim yet stirring, this anthology collects 37 of Scales's writings for Booklist's quarterly publication Book Links. The pieces are grouped thematically into five parts, focusing on family and growing up, history, science, art, and the freedom to read. Each section offers a concise yet thoughtful perspective and features author interviews, essays, annotated bibliographies, and even discussion prompts and activity ideas for the classroom or library. While some of the suggested reading lists are more comprehensive and/or diverse than others, the collection as a whole provides an effective overview of the importance of engaging and empowering young readers with quality literature, and gives educators and librarians alike a passionate, practical starting point for doing so. Scales, who writes the "Scales on Censorship" column for SLJ, has penned brief but forceful pieces that lend themselves equally well to a concentrated, back-to-back reading and more casual perusal.