Readers Write Books: A How-to-do-it Manual.

The reader-written book program at Rockford (Illinois) Public Library has been an extremely successful outreach program used to interest the disadvantaged child in library materials and services. Reader-written books are written by using the language experience approach techniques of having the child tell a story orally, recording that story on a tape-recorder, and having an adult transcribe and edit the story. At the library the story is typed in book form and illustrated with original drawings, magazine cut-outs, or photos. A vocabulary page, a biographical paragraph about the author, and a photo of the author are prepared. The book pages are dry-mounted together and laminated by the child, then bound with a plastic spiral binding. Next, the book is given a bookcard and pocket and is catalogued in the library, ready to be checked out as any other book would be. How-to-do-it instructions cover the topics of how to help children write books, how to plan a similar program and train helpers, and how to adapt the program to other users. Examples of stories and illustrations from the children's books are included. (MKM)