Iwakura Library; Supporting English literacy

◆Iwakura library; Supporting English literacy

Wishing you could take your child to a public library and borrow from a range of English books? Daunted by the challenge of helping your child become literate in English and don't know where to start? Want to try out several different chapter book series to see which one your child likes before buying? Or just want to get a Japanese family member or friend reading in English? The Kyoto City Iwakura Public Library in Sakyo-ku has a range of books to help that can be borrowed from Iwakura directly, or through inter-library loan.

To help parents just starting out there are how-to books such as the bestselling 6th edition of Jim Trelease's The Read-Aloud Handbook and Mem Fox's Reading Magic: Why Reading Aloud to Our Children Will Change Their Lives Forever.

For the young, the library's range of picture books includes old favorites such as the Spot series, a range of Eric Carle titles, Curious George and, of course, Dr. Seuss. Actually, many local libraries have a range of English picture books, so have a look at your nearest library or the Chuo library too.

If you are looking for early readers, in addition to Dr. Suess, there are famous I Can Read titles like Little Bear and Frog and Toad and all levels of the Oxford Reading Tree series, which is the reading system more than 80% of the elementary schools in the U.K. rely on. There are also some of the Project X books, a similar series written with boys in mind.

For the next step, there is a range of chapter book series (usually the first three to five titles in each series) such as Nate the Great, Rainbow Magic, Judy Moody, Magic Tree House, Captain Underpants and Diary of a Wimpy Kid (see below for more.) Borrowing the first few titles is a great way to try out a series with your kids to see if they like it before investing in more titles.

For older readers, there is a range of Roald Dahl titles, along with Andrew Clements, Judy Blume, Beverly Cleary, Newbery Medal winners and honor books like Lois Lowry's The Giver and Charlotte's Web, and classics like The Hobbit.

Looking to help a Japanese spouse or close relation develop their English reading ability? Try out the selection of graded readers from Cambridge and Oxford to help them build the confidence and reading fluency to tackle literature written for native speakers.

Whatever your needs, pop in and have a look! The more people who borrow books, the stronger the message to Kyoto City to increase the range!

Matthew Claflin

Here is a list of other series represented in the library: My Weird School, Marvin Redpost, The Zack Files, Geronimo Stilton, Encyclopedia Brown, the Time Warp Trio, A to Z Mysteries, Lemony Snicket, Moominland, Catwings, Jake Drake, Ivy + Bean, The Spiderwick Chronicles and the Chronicles of Prydain.