Yup! Fall is here! School bells are ringing all over the northern hemisphere! [*dancing*] I admit it; I have been ready for school to begin for a while now … I missed the routine of checking in and surfing and learning new stuff.

As you can tell from the (seeming) avalanche of posts here, we’re getting back into the groove.

21st Century Literacies

Read Write Zone – In July 2010, Australian author Sandy Fussell started a new blog that engages young readers and authors through blog-based interaction. Sandy is currently blogging with three schools in New South Wales. We learned about Sandy and this really nifty project via Megan’s Kids’ Book Review blog (a cool source unto itself!).

There is an interesting article about eBooks at ReadWriteWeb. The question is whether (or not) there is a future for animated eBooks. This point caught my attention: Reading [The Pedlar Lady of Gushing Cross] iPad book took some of that internal magic away from me, but arguably added enough magic of its own to compensate.

Creative Literacy for Kids

BookJam Digital Book Report Contest – Recorded Books K-12 is sponsoring a contest that offers educators/students a chance to win a portion of $20,000 in prizes by creating a digital book report. The Report, which blends core curriculum standards and 21st century skills, can be a song, performance, debate … whatever the kids can think up!

Literacy and Reading Tools for Parents

One of the resources I look forward to every quarter is Susan Stephenson’s Literacy Lava. This is a F-R-E-E online magazine created by parents for parents, and offers real-world, practical advice for filling your child’s world with literacy … and enriching yours, too. Literacy Lava 6 just hit the virtual newstand. You can also read some of the back issues here.

Book Lamp.org – On this website, readers are connected to books through an analysis of writing styles, similar to the way that Pandora.com matches music lovers to new music. From the website: “Do you like Stephen King’s It, but thought it was too long? BookLamp allows you to find books with a similar level of tone, tense, perspective, action, description, and dialog – while at the same time allowing you to specify details like… half the length. It’s impervious to outside influences – like advertising – that impact socially driven recommendation systems, and isn’t reliant on a large user base to work. Take a look at the above video to see how we do it in detail.” (Thanks Book Chook!)

At Children’s Books and Reviews, Aaron Mead has a series about How to Choose Good Children’s Book. I just discovered the series at part 9 (Story Complexity and Character), but have since gone back to read it from the beginning.

Literacy and Reading Tools for Educators

teAchology – Found this via SLJ’s Extra Helping (17 August 2010). You’ll find 9,000 (!) printables on the site. Gail Junion-Metz offers a guided tour: “One of the first things you’ll want to check out are the “Classroom Labels.” Here you’ll find coordinating labels for common objects and all sorts of AV equipment, student supplies, and teacher label sets (which include labels for dictionaries, encyclopedias, magazines). Next, take a look at the “Teacher Signs,” where you’ll find bunches of coordinated signs to label your library stacks, as well as signs for different holidays, celebrations, and classroom themes (like Civil War and space). You’ll also find signs for different places around your building, including the library, and monthly and seasonal signs. Finally, don’t miss the “Back to School” worksheets, some of which are subject-related and include coordinated nameplates and nametags you’ll use during the first couple of weeks of school.”

Technorati Tags: 21st Century Literacies, Book Chook, children's book reviews, classroom literacy, creative literacy, Literacy Lava, literacy tools

As you may have seen earlier this week, we published our review of Mitali Perkins’ newest book, Bamboo People. When the book opens, Chiko is in the courtyard reading A Tale of Two Cities. The Dickens story is hidden in a newspaper, because Burmese boys should not be reading English books. He reads because his father has told him that it is important to “read widely,” and that includes material in Burmese and English. Even knowing that the Burmese government arrested his father because of his education and the risk of being imprisoned himself if caught, Chiko reads.

He understands the power of knowing how to read … so much so he wants to become a teacher. It is that passion that lures Chiko to the government trap and makes him a boy soldier. But even in camp, he reads and teaches his new friend Tai how to read. Ultimately, it propels the story in unexpected ways.

Literacy is a secondary theme in this incredible book, but it reminds us just how fortunate we are to be able to share – or independently select – whatever story we want in our homes, in our backyards, wherever the urge strikes. So what does this have to do with Reading is Fundamental?

Yesterday, Carol Rasco, the CEO of Reading is Fundamental announced the Read with Kids Challenge. This is the third year that RIF and US Airways have partnered for this campaign to encourage adults to read with children. From Carol: This year, our nationwide goal is reading with kids for 10 million minutes between September 1 and October 31.

This is a Win-Win-Win. There is something for the kids (special time with you!) and for you, too. By logging your hours, you become eligible for weekly prizes, travel gift cards, and (last but not least) the grand prize of a US Airways Vacation package to Walt Disney World Resort. Donate to RIF and earn  up to 5,000 Dividend miles from US Airways.

So what are you waiting for? Fly on over to the Read with Kids Challenge page to register.  Carol and RIF have made it so easy for us to share the power of a great story, model the importance of reading for the kids in our lives, AND help them create their own habit for reading widely.

Terry Doherty

Executive Director

The Reading Tub, Inc.

http://www.thereadingtub.com

Help us reduce the national debt. More than $55 million each year goes to supporting people who are unemployable because they can’t read. Change that for the next generation. 

By using these two PASSIVE fundraising tools, we can get money to help at-risk readers.

• Install the Goodsearch toolbar. Select the Reading Tub as your charity, and every search earns 1c for our literacy programs.

• Use this Amazon.com link. When you purchase through this link, we can earn money to get books to kids.

Let’s Connect

Scrub-a-Dub-Tub Thursday Blurb: Reading IS Fundamental

— @ WiseStamp Signature. Get it now

Technorati Tags: Carol Rasco, literacy, Mitali Perkins, promote reading, raising readers, reading aloud, Reading is Fundamental, RIF

Welcome to the first issue of Reading Plus. We created the series to help clarify how learning to read and developing math skills can be partners in helping our kids become successful, confident people.

We often speak about how illiteracy can be debilitating and scary. We talk about how adults can’t read street signs or labels on medication; or how they can’t understand a bank records or their monthly utility bill. Yes, those things have words, but they also have numbers.

In a recent study, the Jump$tart Coalition found that on average, high school seniors failed a basic exam testing financial literacy concepts, scoring an average of just 48 percent. It may amaze you to learn that significant numbers of college-aged people don’t understand how to compare credit card APRs (annual percentage rates), know how to set a budget, or even use a savings account.

Many kids find concepts of personal finance and economics daunting, confusing or downright scary. Just as dormant readers tell us “I don’t like to read,” kids intimidated by numbers tell us how they have don’t like math. In the same way you get kids in the habit of reading at an early age to give them a head start in school, you can get them involved in reading about money, saving, investing, and retirement. Here are a few suggestions on ways to start early:

• Ask that your child’s school incorporate financial literacy topics into math and social studies classes.
• Involve your child in extracurricular activities such as scouts clubs, which cover money management topics from time to time.
• Take advantage of the array of free resources that are designed to help kids understand money management.

Last but not least, you can get more bang for your buck by selecting books with stories that introduce financial concepts. Whether you are reading with a toddler or a middle school student, there are books for all age groups that will not only improve your child’s reading habits but help them learn more about financial concepts as well.

Cady’s Two Cents

Here are some resources that offer basic information about money and finance …

Money Math: Lessons for Life – Free curriculum from the U.S. Treasury Department

Practical Money Skills: Free Lessons for Young Children – This site, sponsored by Visa, also has curriculum for teens and college-age students

Books to Share: 0 to 5
The Berenstain Bears’ Dollars and Sense by Jan and Stan Berenstain
The Berenstain Bears’ Trouble with Money by Jan and Stan Berenstain

Books to Share: 6 to 9
Can I Have Some Money Please? by Twyla Prindle and Randy Jennings
Where Is My Money? by Twyla Prindle and Randy Jennings

Books to Share: 10 and up
Invest Kids Series by Gillian Houghton
includes: Goods and Services, How to Balance a Checkbook, How Credit Cards Work, How Banks Work, Cash and ATMs, and Creating a Budget

Next edition: Helping kids understand money doesn’t grow on trees.

Cady North, the project director and author for this series, is a business and finance professional sharing time between Washington, DC, and Charlottesville, VA. She has nine years in the public policy arena helping educate members of Congress and State Legislatures on various issues. Cady [cadynorth [at] gmail [dot] com] is passionate about improving financial literacy in both students and adults.

Notes:

* Children’s book titles link to amazon.com, with whom the Reading Tub has an affiliate relationship. Purchases made through the links can earn income for the Reading Tub. The link is for your convenience and does not require a purchase.

Man with bag of money – image credit Johnny Automatic at OpenClipArt.org

Technorati Tags: Cady North, financial literacy, math reading, READING TUB STUFF

As y’all know, the Reading Tub® is a nonprofit for children’s literacy. Our goal is, quite simply, to bring reading home to families. Although we tend to equate literacy and reading books, it is much broader than that. For better or worse, Literacy (with a capital “L”) is parsed into lots of subsets: 21st Century Literacy, information literacy, life literacy, etc. Financial literacy is also one of those labels.

In mid-August 2010, I received an email from a young woman who wanted to volunteer with us. Cady North is passionate about helping kids become successful as adults. In her introduction to me, she wrote:

I am specifically interested in improving the financial literacy in America’s youth and underprivileged families. I would like to work on research or projects that help expand awareness of personal finance issues such as savings programs, how to make and keep a budget, how to properly complete tax forms, how credit works, etc.

Voila! A project is now off the ground! For more than a year now, I have been trying to find a way to create a project that overlays math and reading. Learning your numbers and understanding how they fit into “real life” is a process that parallels learning your letters and ultimately learning to read.

Cady has jumped in with both feet and I am excited by all of the great stuff she’s found already. With September nearly here – and school underway (or about to be) – it seemed to be the perfect time to launch our series. Over the next few weeks, we will be featuring Cady’s work in a series I am calling Reading Plus … as in Reading + Math. Our goal is to explain the symbiotic relationship between math and reading, link you to some great resources, and – most importantly – invite you share your ideas!

Image Credit:

Intersection of Two Cubes by Colt Mazeo at OpenClipArt.com

Technorati Tags: Cady North, financial literacy, learning to read, math reading, READING TUB STUFF

“Let this groove set in your shoes … [background singers: just move yourself ] …” [lyrics from Earth, Wind and Fire's "Let's Groove Tonight" from the Raise! album]

Yep! It’s Monday, the first full week of school and I’m grooving.  I am starting to tackle the reader, got my Hootsuite dashboard up, I’m polishing up a post by one of our volunteers, and cleaning off the desk! So, here are a few groovy things (okay, I’ll quit now) I have found so far.

Let’s start with some Cybils bling.  Nominations will begin shortly, but in order for it all to work, we need panelists and judges! If you are interested in participating in the process, the Call for Judges for the 2010 cycle has gone out. You can also keep up-to-date with @CYBILS or search #cybils on Twitter.

Continuing with event announcements, Michelle wrote a Save the Date post at the Book Blogger Convention blog! BBC 2011 will once again be affiliated with BookExpo America, which is held the last full week of May. The innaugural event was terrific, so if you’re going to be in New York (or thinking about being in New York), be sure to keep Friday 27 May 2011 open!

Over at The O.W.L. (Outrageously Wonderful Literature from the Middle Grades), Jill has a survey about book reviews. She created the survey to figure out how best to tackle ten reviews, but naving now seen oh, maybe 50 review of Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins, I am happy to share a few thoughts on seeing the same book reviewed over and over.

In the last couple weeks, Mitali Perkins has been talking about selling multicultural books over at The Fire Escape. In her first post, she asked for ideas about selling multicultural titles.  It is worth reading Mitali’s post and the comments, but if you only have time for a digest version, then check out Tips on selling “multicultural” kid/YA books. Although Mitali’s described audience are publishers and booksellers, her tips are valuable for the library and even at home, too!

Last but not least, I have posted the second part of my series about reading together as a family over at Booklights. As you may have seen, Gina Montefusco (our cheerleader and PBS mentor) announced that we’ll be finishing up our run at Booklights in the next few weeks. I can’t say enough about what a great opportunity this has been, and I’m looking at this as shalom, not goodbye.  So for now, I’m just going to keep on dancin’!

Technorati Tags: Booklights, Cybils, family literacy, middle grade readers, Mitali Perkins, reading aloud

The ‘Hoos came back to Hooville this weekend and school starts for the rest of us on Wednesday.  A mere 36 hours (but who’s counting?!) I remain woefully behind but I know that Catherine’s interest in of “hanging out with mom” are numbered, and I don’t want to lose them.

It wouldn’t be a blurb without some real news, so here goes …

As you have probably noticed by now, there is no mid-month roundup of literacy news. I’ll be back in the swing come mid-September. Thankfully, Carol Rasco will round out the month and ring in the new school year at the end of the month at Rasco from RIF.

Julie Rebboah is hosting the I Can Read Carnival at Lightning Bug Press. To take full advantage of the lazy days of summer, Julie is keeping the Carnival open until the end of the month! Thank you Julie!! Here’s the link to the carnival: http://web.me.com/lightningbuglearning/Blog/Blog/Entries/2010/8/19_August_“I_Can_Read”_Carnival.html

Today at Booklights I have a post about selecting books when you’re trying to read with kids of different ages.  Even better, Susan Kusel has a review of How Rocket Learned to Read … the perfect selection when you’ve got to get into a back-to-school state of mind.

Last but not least, throughout the YA and Kidlit Blogdom plans are being made to attend KidlitCon 2010 in Minneapolis, MN. This is the fourth annual conference, and oh, how I wish I was attending! Last year was my first and it was an I-N-C-R-E-D-I-B-L-E experience. If it weren’t for a family obligation in that weekend, I would be there!

Technorati Tags: Carol Rasco, KidLitCon, Reading is Fundamental, RIF

I’ve been asked how I pick the books I’m going to talk about. Well, the truth of the matter is I don’t pick them, they pick me. I usually have two or three books going at a time, and I just pull them off the shelf … I don’t go searching the shelves for books that might “work together,” it just happens. And so it is with Beyond Freedom by Patricia Q. Wall and Zora and Me by Victoria Bond and T.R. Simon.

Beyond Freedom, the sequel to Child Out of Place, is about Matty Smith, the only child (daughter) in a freed slave family. Beyond Freedom is Matty’s first-person account of life in Boston during the summer of 1812. Matty lives with her father, the town blacksmith,  her paternal grandmother, a great uncle, and several tenants they have taken in.

The Zora in Zora and Me is Zora Neale Hurston. Zora’s classmate and best friend Carrie Brown is our narrator. The story, drawn in large part from Zora’s writing, is set in the summer of 1900 in Eatonville, Florida, where the girls grew up. As noted on the back cover of my ARC: this is the first fiction project, not written by Zora Neale Hurston herself, to have received the endorsement of the Zora Neale Hurston Trust.

Both of these books are slim, fictionalized biographies of young African American girls. The stories are nearly 100 years and literally a thousand miles apart, but they are very, very close. By reading them together, it is interesting to see how little had really changed in our country at the time.

As you might expect, friendships plays an important part in the story. The dynamics of their relationship are nearly parallel, despite the differences of place, time, social standing, and ethnicity.

From Matty we have the contrasts of a black family living in a largely white city. As Beyond Freedom opens, Matty is walking home from the Boston Commons. She has disobeyed her father and grandmother, because she knows the Commons is an area that is off limits to blacks. Several white boys are taunting and chasing her. She runs down an alley and immediately hears a whisper and an offer of help. Lydia Bainbridge, the daughter of a wealthy Beacon Hill family, saw what was going on, whispered to Matty from her hiding place, and the girls ran off to a safe place together.  When Lydia saw that Matty’s dress was torn, she insisted on getting her sewing kit to fix it. In short order, Lydia secured a job for Matty as a servant. Lydia’s big birthday party was just a week away, and the family needed help since one of the white women on their staff had broken her foot and was immobilized. Despite Lydia’s generosity, Matty was leery of the overtures and skeptical of her motives. Every time Matty came to work, Lydia constantly asked questions about Matty’s family and her life.

In 1900, the black families of Eatonville kept to themselves. It was a semi-rural community, and adults often walked miles on foot to their various jobs or to the next town over to shop. Even among the children, though, there were strata. “[Talking to the four] daughters of professional men – a doctor, a dentist, a tailor, and an undertaker – you would have thought they were the duchesses and countesses and princesses of Eatonville. They carried themselves like every day was Easter.” Neither Carrie nor Zora were considered royalty. From the get-go we get hints that Zora is quite the storyteller, as several of the “cool girls” tease Zora about her theories of an alligator man living in the swamp. Carrie shares some of their skepticism, but she is loyal to Zora and knows that nothing Zora says is ever 100% false.

Patricia Wall, Victoria Bond, and T.R. Simon do an incredible job drawing out the skepticism and racism of the adults as well, but not always in ways you would expect. Where Lydia’s mother “faints” at the sight of a black person and the staff is largely disdainful, Lydia’s father and George (the butler) are more open – and in fact push for -  a diversified household despite the limitations set by Mrs. Bainbridge.  George works diligently to treat Matty fairly, give her space to be with Lydia, and still busy with jobs that keep her out of sight of Mrs. Bainbridge.

Preacher John Hurston, Zora’s father, has no tolerance for Zora’s expressive imagination and her lack of fear about vocalizing her thoughts.  For example, at dinner one evening, when the adults were talking about the murder of  a turpentine worker, Zora offered that she knew who the culprit was and was passionate that the person should be punished.

“Do you — do you think you white?” Mr. Hurston was shaking with anger. His face was twitching. “Wanting to talk about death – right here at the dinner table! That is the kind of thing white folks do.”

The authors showed that racism cuts both ways but that so does understanding. It is interesting that in both books, that trait comes from the older generation. Mr. Ambrose, the white doctor there at Zora’s birth,  is a grandfatherly figure who engages the girls as a neighbor would, listens to their ideas, and then guides them to the right choice. Matty’s grandmother Bess, who knew nothing but slavery her entire life, drew on her own experiences to help Matty prepare for the new job. When Matty asks her grandmother why Mrs. Bainbridge hates her, she bursts out “Oh why did I have to be born black! It’s so unfair.”

“Now you listen here, young lady,” said Bess, drawing away and angrily pounding her fist on the table. “I won’t have you saying such a thing, mocking God. You’re blaming the color of our skin for white people’s hatefulness. But they’re in the wrong, not us!”

When her uncle comes in, he explains to Matty that she is dealing with the “black folks’ second struggle – the struggle that comes after we get free of slavery. We’ve managed to get our bodies free, but for some of us there’s still that struggle to get our minds free.”

What kept me reading was not only the relationships and the philosophy handed down to the next generation, but the stories themselves, too. In Beyond Freedom, Maddy and Lydia decide to do something about the Boston Directory. Both were angry that even as tax-paying citizens, the African people were listed in a separate section in the back. They concoct a plan whereby Maddy comes to church with Lydia to plea for change in front of the congregation.  I kept hoping that there would be good news on the next page, so I kept reading and turning.

Although this is a biographical story, there are subplots in Zora and Me that give it extra depth. Zora, Carrie, and their friend Teddy were bound and determined to exorcise the Gator Man (half gator, half man) from the swamp. Two people had been killed, and they were certain Gator Man was the culprit. They had befriended the turpentine worker just before he was killed, and were shocked to later discover that a white woman they had recently met was actually his sister. With everyone laughing at them, how could they ever convince the authorities that they had solved the crime?

I highly recommend both Zora and Me and Beyond Freedom. There were several spots in both books where I just winced when I read the words on the page. Through the authors’ skillful presentation, my response was not caused by stereotypical expressions of racism, but just the opposite.

• I was so angry at John Hurston’s remarks. How could he treat his daughter like that and still call himself a Christian man? How did he know “white people” talk about death at the dinner table?
• I was also angry at myself for being instantly skeptical of Lydia’s motives.  She’s a 15-year-old girl; why wouldn’t she have expressed her curiosity about something new to her? Isn’t that the way kids learn, by asking questions?

Hate, distrust, and ignorance in the mirror is ignorance, distrust, and hate … and the authors made sure we saw it reflected back upon itself. I cannot say enough positive about these two books. They are meant for a middle grade audience, but would do equally well as read-alouds with an upper elementary audience and Young Adults, too. Their reading levels make them excellent choices for a High Interest/Low Readability audience, too. Because of their separation in time (19th century and 20th century) and place (Northeast and Southeast United States) readers have interesting contrasts and parallels to reflect upon.

Beyond Freedom
Patricia Q. Wall
Fall Rose Books, 2010
Audience (reading level): 10 and up (3.7 Flesch Kincaid)

Zora and Me
by Victoria Bond and T. R. Simon
Candlewick Press 2010 (October 2010)
Audience (reading level): 10 and up (4.7) [OpenBook requires at least at book number, e.g., ISBN or Open Library key]
read a sample chapter

We have been busy reading – mostly library books – but are way behind on reviewing. I expect to remedy that in the coming weeks. To help get caught up, I probably won’t publish an August edition of Books We Read. I will keep track of what we’re reading and reviewing, but there is just too much going on before school starts on August 25th to try to wedge this into the schedule, too.

If you have read and reviewed one of the books, please feel free to add it to the Website; add a link in the comments here; or send me an email at thereadingtub [at] gmail [dot] com with “book review” in the title. By linking back, I can send traffic your way, and I am happy to do it.

Received: 26
New Reads: 23
New Reviews: 8

Note: Our book widget includes links to Indie Bound (you can mouse over “Indie Bound” to get more info), Amazon, and Tapestry Books. Covers with links go to amazon.com for general literature and Tapestry Books for titles with adoption themes.

Favorite Re-Reads (kid picks)

Reading Beyond the Books

xxx

Bilingual Books (All Audiences)

none this monthxxxnonex

Picture Books (All Audiences)

kid pick

xx
__________
nonfiction How Big is the Ocean: First Questions and Answers about the Beach
edited by Time-Life Books

The Jellybeans and the Big Book Bonanza

x
__________
nonfiction our book talk
Micro Monsters: Extreme Encounters with Invisible Armies
by NamNguyen

nonfiction

Easy Readers (for New and Developing Readers)

kid pick

Illustrated Short Chapter Books

Big Nate: In a Class By Himself
by Lincoln Pierce

kid pick

kid pick

kid pick

kid pick

kid pick

Middle Grade Chapter Books (Fiction and Nonfiction)

our book talk (coming)

Young Adult Chapter Books (Fiction and Nonfiction)

our book talk

xx

Reviews Promised Last Month …

Hot Pursuit: Murder in Mississippi by Stacia Deutsch and Rhody Cohon
Beyond Freedom by Patricia Q. Wall
Sid the Science Kid: What’s That Smell? by Jennifer Frantz

Reviews Updated by the Teens @ Be the Star You Are

The Coffin Club 5: Vampire Kisses
Kaimira 1: The Sky Village by Monk and Nigel Ashland
MySpace/Our Planet: Change is Possible by the MySpace Community
Rodeo Rocky (The Horses of Half Moon Bay Ranch series) by Jenny Oldfield
Through the Rug 2: Follow That Dog by Jill Vanderwood
Wishes and Wonder by Virginia Stussy

____________________
Note: Book cover images link to Amazon.com; per title bookseller links go to Indie Bound and Amazon.com. When you buy a product via one of our links, we earn a small commission from the sale. You are under no obligation to purchase through them.

I am in the process of doing a little virtual organizing and mid-summer cleaning. In the process, I came across a few items that I thought would be particularly interesting … so much so, in fact, that I couldn’t wait until the next New Resources Roundup to post. So here they are.

Mrs. P herself starts us off with the announcement of her second annual  “Be a Famous Writer” contest for children. The contest opens for submissions on 1 September 2010 and runs through 15 October 2010.  beginning September 1st. Kids asges 4 to 13 are invited (read: encouraged) to submit their stories: fiction or nonfiction, and on any topic. Length ranges fro m250 to 1,000 words. The entries will be divided into two groups for judging: one for kids ages 4 to 8, the other for kids ages 9 to 13.  From the press release:

Two grand prize winners (one from each age group) will have their stories read by Mrs. P herself and an artist will create original illustrations to accompany the story. Each winner will receive a bound copy of the illustrated story, as well as having it posted on MrsP.com. Both grand prize winners and up to eight runners-up will also each will receive a $25 gift certificate to Powell’s Books. The judges this year include best-selling author Meg Cabot, Garfield creator Jim Davis, and Danny Kallis, producer and creator of Disney Channel’s The Suite Life of Zack and Cody.

Speaking of letting kids’ creativity shine … check out Booktrailers for Readers. This is a website of book trailers. Some are professionally made, but many are made by kids themselves. Enter the theater to watch Blockbusters (kid-made book trailers) or Cult Classics (the teacher favorites). The creators also have a link to a collection of book trailers for early elementary students, too. There’s also a video on how to make a book trailer, as well as a page with rules for book blogging.  Leave it to Susan Stephenson of the Book Chook to find this for me.

One of the byproducts of all those book trailers is that it can help kids find their next read. If you’re still not convinced about how important multimedia learning is, then do check out this video. It starts with the how to make a book trailer and then the kids give you stats and other data that is just staggering.

Technorati Tags: 21st Century Literacies, Book Chook, book trailers, creative literacy, MrsP.com, Writing Events

Welcome to the dog days … the last stretch of fun before we start using the “S” word on a regular basis. Not THAT “s” word … SCHOOL! Actually, I have a new moniker for the “S” word …. stretch yourself. [Okay, two words!]

Susan Stephenson sent me a link to Elif Shafak’s Ted Global 2010 presentation that is part memoir, part storyteller, and completely thought provoking. Using her life as an example, she explains that in this global community there are great risks of too many people thinking alike … and that writing and fiction (thinking beyond ourselves and the familiar) is the key to keeping independent thought alive. It is most definitely worth 20 minutes of your time.

As you may remember, last month I had a link to the Printz Medal read-alikes list. This month (arriving just in the nick of time … courtesy of Fuse 8/Betsy Bird and the Kidlitosphere Yahoo! Group) is ABookandAHug.com. This is a site for EVERYONE – parents, teachers, kids, librarians. Whether you want to better understand reading levels or want to match the perfect book with your young reader, this is DEFINITELY the place to go. I admit, it’s a triple bonus for me, because Barb Langridge lives in my home town.

21st Century Literacies

Just in time for school, Barnes and Noble tool is releasing Nook Study, a computer application to help you read, annotate, and organize your school-related stuff. You don’t have to own a Nook eReader to use the tools, and you will still have access to 500,000 free eBooks. What I found interesting in the press release that it was “designed by students, for students.”

Creative Literacy for Kids

Have you seen Wacky Web Tales? We have talked about Mad-lib type story generators, but I love this one. It’s built for kids grades 3 and up … and even includes a story called Burp! Thanks to Mary Ann Dames at Reading, Writing & Recipes for the link.

Literacy and Reading Tools for Parents

On the Reading Recovery site (sponsored by the US Department of Education), you’ll find a space filled with videos and ideas about Making it Easy to Learn. Because it is the Department of Ed, the tone is speaking more toward teachers, but the information is really transparent between classroom and home. In fact, the material may be more useful to parents, as it helps you understand the component parts of learning to read.

Literacy and Reading Tools for Educators

TOON Books is working to make its blog “a forum for parents, librarians, and educators interested in sharing their thoughts relating to all kinds of issues dealing with kids, books, and early readers. We hope to get Mommy and Daddy bloggers involved in all of our discussions. TOON Books will pay a nominal fee ($25) for every published post. Sharon Hrycewicz of the Downers Grove Library in Downers Grove, Illinois wrote a thoughtful guide to shelving TOON Books, enumerating the various options and explaining the pros and cons of each one. If you are interested in contributing to our blog, contact Julie at Julie@toon-books.com.

Kathy Shrock, MLS, has everything you need to know – complete with suggestions – on using Twitter in an educational setting. Her site Twittercure is loaded with links and videos with everything from Twitter 101 to suggestions on ways to engage kids with this microblogging tool. Tweet!

From WorldCat: “WorldCat has teamed up with MetaMetrics to offer “Find a Book” to help connect readers with books appropriate for their reading level, using the popular Lexile Framework® for Reading…Once they find the books they’re interested in, they connect to your library through WorldCat.org and check availability.”

Have you seen Picture Books in ELT (English Language Training) yet? It is really cool, in her intro to the blog Sandie Mourão explains why she loves picture books: “My intention is to discuss picture books, in particular the pictures in them! Why? Because, in ELT we tend to select picture books because they contain words our students might know.” You can meet Sandie and other educators, authors, librarians, teachers, etal in the Kidlitosphere Yahoo Group. That’s how I found out about Picture Books in ELT.

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