Learning to read gives a child a tool for acquiring information. Loving to read equips a child with a set of skills for developing a rich, imaginative and ever-expanding life. The center provides workshops, guides and content for learning and social-emotional/aesthetic development at all levels of childhood education.
The faculty of Bank Street College of Education seeks to address a growing challenge: the diminishing use of children’s literature in literacy programs, particularly in the early grades. As a result, many children are finding it much more difficult to “engage” in their own learning. The components of the center are:
The center is housed in the Bank Street College Library, home to a circulating collection of more than 44,500 children’s books.
Our mission is to create, identify, and advocate for the highest quality literature for all children from infancy through adolescence. We ensure that such literature is readily accessible to every child, and to foster in parents, educators, and policy makers a commitment to the principle that good literature is fundamental to literacy.
BookFest @ Bank Street 2024 keynote speaker is Lois Lowry. The author of more than forty books for children and young adults, including the New York Times bestselling Giver Quartet and the popular Anastasia Krupnik series. Lowry has received countless honors, among them the Boston Globe–Horn Book Award, the Dorothy Canfield Fisher Award, the California Young Reader Medal, and the Mark Twain Award. She received Newbery Medals for two of her novels, Number the Stars and The Giver.
