{"id":3807,"date":"2012-03-02T00:01:28","date_gmt":"2012-03-02T05:01:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/?p=3807"},"modified":"2025-07-08T13:28:02","modified_gmt":"2025-07-08T17:28:02","slug":"thoughts-on-beginning-readers-and-refrigerators","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/2012\/03\/thoughts-on-beginning-readers-and-refrigerators\/","title":{"rendered":"Thoughts on beginning readers and refrigerators"},"content":{"rendered":"

My husband and I have been shopping for a new refrigerator. The old one has\u00a0 been fine, keeping cold foods cold and frozen\u00a0foods frozen.\u00a0 Other than that, I never gave it much thought.\u00a0 But now that our kitchen remodeling project is done, it\u2019s time for a new one.\u00a0 We’ve searched three appliance stores and checked out all the new models. We\u2019re leaning towards a French door-style refrigerator with a freezer on the bottom, although a side-by-side has its advantages, too.<\/p>\n

The funny thing – for better or worse, is that by not<\/em> looking at new refrigerators over the years, I didn\u2019t know what I was missing.\u00a0 Now that I know what else is available, I begrudge each time that I have to get down on my knees to look in the vegetable and fruits\u00a0bins.\u00a0 Who ever decided that freezers should be on the top anyway?<\/p>\n

And that<\/em> got me to thinking – who ever decided that beginning readers must be 8.5 x 6 x 0.2 inches, with a banner on the top and number in the corner?\u00a0\u00a0 Though the publishers do not agree on readability levels, there has been apparent agreement in matters of shape, size and general appearance.\u00a0 For years, my beginning reader shelves were the neatest in the library – each book a perfect match to its neighbor.<\/p>\n

Newer shapes and sizes have been steadily increasing in volume, however.\u00a0 The Elephant and Piggie<\/em> series (Hyperion)\u00a0stretched the genre by about an inch (the better to see the delightful duo).\u00a0 The I Like to Read<\/em> series (Holiday House)\u00a0is the same size as a typical picture book.\u00a0\u00a0\"\"<\/p>\n

The always innovative Toon Books has turned the usual shape on its side with their new Level\u00a0One books measuring up at 9.4 x 6.3.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

(My kids grew up with the non library-friendly, but nevertheless tiny and\u00a0wonderful, Bob\"\" Books<\/em>, so I am familiar with the appropriateness of little books for little hands.)<\/p>\n

However you measure them, it seems to me that there is a trend toward greater choice in the shape, size and appearance of beginning readers. One size does not fit all. The newfound possibilities are limitless – for readers and<\/em> refrigerator buyers. My shelves have never looked messier and I\u2019m happy with that. (My kitchen, I prefer neat).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My husband and I have been shopping for a new refrigerator. The old one has\u00a0 been fine, keeping cold foods cold and frozen\u00a0foods frozen.\u00a0 Other than that, I never gave it much thought.\u00a0 But now that our kitchen remodeling project is done, it\u2019s time for a new one.\u00a0 We’ve searched three appliance stores and checked out all the new models. We\u2019re leaning towards a French door-style refrigerator with a freezer on the bottom, although a side-by-side has its advantages, too. The funny thing – for better or worse, is that by not looking at new refrigerators over the years, I didn\u2019t know what I was missing.\u00a0 Now that I know what else is available, I begrudge each time that I have to get down on my knees to look in the vegetable and fruits\u00a0bins.\u00a0 Who ever decided that freezers should be on the top anyway? And that got me to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":137,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":"","_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"categories":[113,64,210,22,47,36],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3807","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blogger-lisa-taylor","category-bloggers","category-books-2","category-childrens-literature","category-collection-development","category-slice-of-life"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3807","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/137"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3807"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3807\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3807"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3807"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3807"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}