Frederic G. Melcher, former editor of Publishers Weekly, once said, "A great nation is a reading nation." Recognizing that the love of reading starts in childhood, Melcher and others came together back in 1919 to celebrate the very first Children's Book Week. Eighty-nine years later, the Children's Book Council carries on the tradition of encouraging reading among children.

This year, Children's Book Week is celebrated May 12-18 and children's author Terry Pierce has some suggestions for ways to promote a love of reading with your own children.

First of all, it is never too early to start reading to your child. Even if they don't understand a word you are saying, it is a wonderful way to bond. Plus, early exposure to books helps develop memory skills as well as symbol recognition, hearing and speaking.

To extend the learning beyond the pages of the book, Pierce suggests asking questions at the end of a story. You could ask your child what she thinks the author was trying to say, discuss the illustrations and even predict what happens next. Another way to enhance the story is to take it into the kitchen. A story that involves food can lead to a fun cooking activity in which your child can be involved in everything from the shopping, to the cooking to the eating.

If your child likes to draw, how about letting him create his own illustrations for a favorite book? Or maybe design his own cover? Reading can also be a springboard into writing. Whether your child wants to pen a letter to the author or begin keeping a journal, books can be inspiring.

For more ideas on celebrating books and promoting reading, visit the Children's Book Council for activities, suggested books and more. Happy reading!

Back when my daughter was in high school, she went through a school-skipping phase. Blissfully unaware, I would send her off to class and she would immediately head in the other direction. This situation was brought to my attention by the helpful folks in the truancy office, who informed me that if she didn't get her butt into class, they would arrest me! Fortunately things didn't go that far and nobody went to jail.

But for a father in Fairfield, Ohio, his wayward daughter's refusal to complete her education did land him in jail. Brian Gegner is serving a six-month sentence because his daughter Brittany failed to get her General Equivalency Diploma (GED) after dropping out of school. But here's the twist - Brittany is 18-years-old and a legal adult.

Juvenile Court Judge David Niehaus ordered Gegner to jail on charges of contributing to the delinquency of a minor because he failed to follow a previous court order requiring him to ensure his daughter got her GED. Court administrators admit this type of punishment is rare, but say that despite the fact that Brittany is an adult now, her case remains active because she was a juvenile when the problems began.

You're cleaning out your child's back pack. Book order? Check. Field trip form? Check. Homework? Check. Notice that a male classmate will now be living as a girl, and counselors will be discussing the issue with your child tomorrow at school? Check. What? Wait a minute.

Parents of third grade students at a Philadelphia elementary school were recently surprised when school officials announced that a boy who has been receiving treatment for transgender issues would now be living as a girl. They announced they'd be explaining the issue to kids in a developmentally appropriate way the next day, as well doing some minor sensitivity training.

When the time comes for a child to leave home and go out into the world, many parents find they don't quite know what to do with themselves. To ease the loneliness of an empty nest, some parents might get a dog, begin traveling more or sell the house and downsize. A dad in Utah found an even better way to keep himself occupied and to stay connected to his law school bound son: he went to school with him.

58-year-old Tom McLelland says he had been thinking about getting a law degree for years and decided to go for it when his son Ryan enrolled in Ohio Northern University. Some young adults might not appreciate having dad along for the ride when going away to school, but Ryan saw it as a plus. "We could help each other a lot better," he said.

The pair graduated together this past Sunday and have plans to return to their home state of Utah to open a practice together. Tom hopes to work in labor and employment law while Ryan, who is a father himself, plans to focus on family law.

"I'm a little nervous," Tom said. "I'm looking forward to a new challenge in life."

Kimberly Jacobs went to school in a shirt bearing symbols of her religious beliefs. Actually, she did it several times -- enough to be suspended five times. Jacobs attended Liberty High School near Las Vegas, Nevada which requires that students wear khaki-colored pants and a solid-colored shirt in either red, white, or blue.

Jacobs felt that her freedom of expression was being infringed upon and the ACLU agreed. The civil liberties organization took her case to court but the federal appeals court found that the school's uniform policy did not infringe upon freedom of religion or expression. The ACLU plans to request a rehearing of the case.

"This has implications not only for schools but for all sorts of free speech. Wearing a message on clothing is like the armband in 'Tinker,'" said Allen Lichtenstein, general counsel for the ACLU in Las Vegas. "Tinker" refers to the 1969 case of Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District in which the Supreme Court ruled that wearing an armband to protest the Vietnam War was constitutionally protected speech. "What this decision essentially did is overturn 'Tinker' and precedent," Lichtenstein added.

I'm not sure I agree that this ruling conflicts directly with Tinker, but then, I'm no lawyer. I'm also not a huge fan of school uniforms, although it seems the one in question is fairly benign. On the other hand, it does seem to me that we need our young people to stir things up and protest the status quo.

One of my favorite teachers back in high school was Mr. Dorchester. He was a little quirky and absentminded, but he made studying history fun. He was a new-agey kind of guy who often drifted off subject with incredible tales of his own travels and experiences, but he always managed to impart the lessons we needed to learn. In short, he was a good teacher because he kept us alert and interested.

It sounds like the same could probably be said for Jim Piculas, a substitute teacher at Rushe Middle School in Land O'Lakes, Florida. Except he will not be allowed to continue teaching. Officials at Pasco County School District say Mr. Piculas was fired for failing to follow lesson plans, allowing his students to use unapproved computers and leaving a student in charge of his class. Piculas says he was fired for being a wizard.

The wizard accusation came after Piculas did a magic trick for his class in which he made a toothpick disappear and reappear. He says he later got a call Pat Sinclair, who is in charge of substitute teachers. According to Piculas, Sinclair told him he was being let go because he had been accused of wizardry.

Even though district officials say the magic trick was far down on the list of reasons why Piculas was let go, I can't help but wonder why it was on the list at all. What is wrong with a little magic in the classroom?

In a recent NY Times article we were introduced to online programs that allow parents to track their children's grades. Many parents are choosing products like ParentConnect, Edline and PowerSchool to assist them in conversing with their children about their grades.

As the Times article points out, it cuts out the middle portion of the conversation. The parents know what the grade is, good or bad. There can be no hiding of the grades or pretending they're something other than what they are. ParentConnect allows the parent access to the grade, and lets the child know that information is out there, and that discussion is sure to follow (especially if the grade is less than desirable).

Such programs are currently being utilized by 10,000 schools in all but one of the states. Studies have shown that parental involvement can have an effect on grades, and with test scores being more important than ever these days, many are turning to such sites to assist them in their quest for kids with good grades, even though several of these sites have been around for ten years.

If you've been reading ParentDish for long, then you know that kids are finding new and exciting ways to get themselves suspended from school all the time. Taking calls from parents stationed in Iraq, smelling their own shirt, and sporting a trendy haircut have all caused school suspensions, along with a permanent mark on school records.

Sometimes, the consequences fit the crime. Sometimes, schools go too far in trying to enforce a "zero tolerance" policy. Take the case of a nine-year-old Milwaukee girl who recently received a three-day suspension for taking rocks, a hammer, and a screwdriver to school. When the bus driver discovered her with the items, the police were called and a threat assessment team was assembled.

The life of country singer Gretchen Wilson is one of rags to riches. Born to a sixteen year old mother, the Redneck Woman singer grew up in poverty in rural Illinois. Her father left before she was two and she and her waitress mother made their homes in various trailer parks around the state. At the age of fifteen, she dropped out of high school to work as a bartender and eventually found her way to Nashville, Tennessee.

There, she met and married Mike Penner and in the 2000, the couple had a daughter, Grace. A talented singer, Wilson worked as a backup vocalist before finding fame with the release of her album Here for the Party in 2003. That album sold 5 million copies and a career that began with a young Gretchen belting out tunes in front of Kmart transformed into a Grammy-winning success story. But for all her achievements, there was something missing in her life: a high school diploma.

Determined to set a good example for her daughter, now seven, Wilson sat for and passed the General Educational Development exam last month. On May 15th, she will be up on stage, not to sing, but to accept her long-overdue high school diploma.

Obviously, not having that piece of paper didn't hold her back in her chosen career, but she says she wanted to make sure her daughter knew the importance of finishing school. "I certainly don't want her to think you can be this successful without an education," she tells The Tennessean.

I know a thing or two about interrupted high school educations and commend Wilson for going all the way and getting that diploma. She clearly didn't have to do it, but what an important lesson she has taught her daughter. Congratulations, Gretchen!

In a move reminiscent of the Hitler-Jugend, planning is underway for the Delaware Academy for Public Safety and Security, a charter high school in Wilmington that will take as many as six hundred inner-city youths and train them to become part of the Homeland Security forces and take part in the war-on-whatever.

Students will be called cadets, will wear uniforms, and will follow courses of study in special weapons and tactics, prison guarding, and professional demolition, among others. The languages taught in the school will include Arabic, Chinese, and Russian. Physical training will be a big part, with daily after-school exercise programs already planned.

Spearheading the project is attorney, former Marine hand to hand combat expert, and Olympic Judo coach Thomas Little. Little also spent more than a decade on the African continent training urban youth. Maybe this will turn out to be the best thing since sliced bread, but I'm not convinced. It just seems a little too familiar.

Parents of college-bound children, beware! Boys and girls, your innocent little babies, perhaps, are co-habitating in a single dorm room, with school approval! Even well-known, respectable schools such as Brown University, Oberlin College, and the California Institute of Technology are permitting this heinous situation. Next year, Stanford University will join in the debauchery and allow it.

Sure, students say that nothing goes on and that they don't even watch each other getting dressed, but -- come on! -- these are college kids! Their hormones are raging! The fires of lust are burning inside them and there they are, dropped into those dens of iniquity known as colleges and you're going to tell me that there's no hanky-panky going on? Puh-lease!

Well, actually, according to those involved, it isn't about sex; it's about friends rooming together even though they happen to be of differing genders. "People are shocked to hear that it's happening and even that it's possible," said twenty-year-old Erik Youngdahl, a sophomore at Wesleyan University in Connecticut. But "once you actually live in it, it doesn't actually turn into a big deal." Youngdahl shares a room with friend and fellow Russian studies student Michelle Garcia.

"It ultimately comes down to finding someone that you feel is compatible with you," said Jeffrey Chang, founder of the National Student Genderblind Campaign, a group that promotes gender-neutral housing. "Students aren't doing this to make a point. They're not doing this to upset their parents. It's really for practical reasons."

In all honesty, it wouldn't bother me and I do think that men and women (and, despite the fact that they seem like kids to me, we really are talking about young men and women) can share a room without there being anything more to it than that.

Here in San Francisco, being a gay high school student may not be the easiest path, but it is certainly not as dangerous as in other areas of the country. There are, sadly, places where simply being gay can -- and does -- lead to harassment, assault, and even death. I don't know where Tennessee falls on the tolerance scale, but given the 56 anti-gay hate crimes in 2007, I imagine it's not quite San Francisco.

So, I could understand that teenage boys might not want to advertise their sexuality to the whole school. Too bad the principal at Hollis F. Price Middle College High School in South Memphis didn't understand that. Daphne Beasley asked her staff for the names of students who were paired up, ostensibly to be able to control public displays of affection at the school.

Unfortunately, what she did with the list of couples was much worse -- she posted it where staff, students, and even parents could see it. On that list were Nicholas and Andrew, two boys who had just begun a relationship. "It was actually frightening," said Nicholas, an 11th grader, "to see a list with my name on it where not just other teachers could see but students as well."

We were all in the car, taking Jared to school when we spotted the police cars at the high school a couple of blocks away. A dozen of them, perhaps more. We would have been concerned, had we not seen the large highway signs saying "Police Training in Progress". It turns out that training was about school shootings, a la Columbine or Virginia Tech.

Officers responded to a 9-1-1 call about the mock incident where two intruders were shooting students at St. Ignatius College Preparatory, a local private high school. Wearing full tactical gear, officers entered the school to find "dead" students in the lobby. A suspect appeared and began firing at the police; they returned fire. And so it continued, for more than two hours of realistic mayhem.

Simulations such as these are designed to give emergency personnel practice and experience in dealing with a situation that we all hope never happens. They can also help identify areas where the planned response to such an incident may need to be changed or improved. "We try to make these scenarios as real as possible," said Fire Chief Joanne Hayes-White. Of the need for such drills, "it's definitely a sign of the times," Hayes-White said. "It's dealing with reality, unfortunately. We know we'll be better prepared if it happens."

Not everyone wants to be involved, however. San Francisco's public school system does not participate. "There are students in our schools who have been through a great deal of trauma either in other countries from where they immigrated or right here in San Francisco," said district spokeswoman Gentle Blythe, and the district doesn't want to subject them to any more, even if it isn't real.

I think drills such as this one are important so that officers can have first hand experience with such possibilities and so that officials can hone and fine-tune their emergency plans. Still, I'm not sure I'd want my kids involved, although I'd most likely allow it. Would you?

As parents and teachers it is easy in this day and age to feel entirely compelled to answer every 'good' question a child asks. We are all the products of the information age swelling up around us. I can hardly remember turning to the row of leather bouned Encyclopedia Britanica's on my dad's office bookshelf for research projects. Did I ever really do that? Now Google is all I'll ever need. And because information is so readily available, and we're all pretend experts on any one of a dozen topics, when a kid asks a question--we try for an answer.

But there is something remarkable about letting the big questions that kids ask just sit for a little while, unanswered. Wonder fills kids with all kinds of brilliant ideas. Whey they look for their own answers, the world grows large with meaning before them.

Anyone who spends any amount of time around kids knows how frequently they ask questions. (Every ten seconds.) And their constant inquisitiveness sometimes becomes a burden or an annoyance as you feel compelled to find the answers. Why are the leaves green? Why do trees have leaves? Why are there trees? Because of this thing called cholorophyl...because they need them to grow... becausw we need air...because. It's not uncommon when answering the questions children ask to feel like you have slipped into the twilight zone of the metaphysical.

But occasionally instead of answering, ask back. Really. Ask a child to answer one of their own questions. I tried this recently with a group of six and seven year olds who are studying matter.

"What is matter? " They wanted to know, when I told them we;'d be studying it for the next several weeks.

"What do you think it is? I asked back.

One little girl replied, "Matter is maybe something invented by someone named Matt."

The next day we continued the conversation with the touching off point that matter is 'anything you can touch or feel.' With that definition, brought to the group by a classmember, the children were off.

"We can feel air, is air matter?"

"We can feel our hearts beating, are our hearts matter?"

"If it's anything we can touch or feel, it's EVERYTHING around us."

"If matter is everything, is God matter?"

"If matter is everything, is anything NOT matter?"

I don't even begin to answer their questions. Huge, brilliant, awe inspring questions, filled with the sweet wonder of small children.

Instead I grin widly and write them on chart paper for us to think about over our unit of study. Some questions we'll find answers to. Other's we might not. Answering the question isn't as important as asking it.

In what could be seen as a karmic turn of events, an eleven-year-old boy scout returned a wallet containing $800 and then had his own returned to him. Hailing from Michigan, J.R. Bouterse, got his own wallet back after publicity arose from his kind action.

Last month Jessica Cutler lost her wallet in a church parking lot. Bouterse lost his at an Easter egg hunt, where it was found by Nancy Bosse and her granddaughter. Even though there was no ID in Bouterse's wallet, somehow Bosse managed to track him down after hearing about Bouterse.

Rather than accepting the reward collected for his good deed by the Michigan State Police, Bouterse asked that the money be used to buy pizza for his boy scout troupe. Also in attendance at the party was surprise guest Jessica Cutler, the owner of the other lost wallet.