Scholastic launches social networking site : Youarewhatyouread.com

At the tenth anniversary celebrations of SLANZA in Auckland last Friday at the wonderful new National Library building in Parnell, guest speaker "Bookman Beattie" - Graham Beattie, gave a wonderful talk about the books that made him - who he was, is and will become in a lifetime of books...

Here is the post from his blog about a new site which gave him the inspiration for his talk's title - “Books leave an indelible mark on who we are and who we will become”.

This new site, including a separate community for kids, asks users "Which 5 books shaped your life?"

New York, NY (October 28, 2010)

To celebrate the importance of books and reading, Scholastic is launching You Are What You Read, a social networking site for readers around the world.
Users log on to http://www.youarewhatyouread.com/, list the five books that had the biggest impact on their lives, and connect with readers all over the world through these shared “Bookprints.”

The site also contains the Bookprints of more than 125 “Names You Know” – notable people from entertainment, academia, business, media, publishing, and more – including Scarlett Johansson, Al Roker, Sir James Dyson, Venus Williams, Jodi Picoult, Malcolm Gladwell, Judy Blume, President George H.W. Bush and President William Jefferson Clinton.

After logging into You Are What You Read via Facebook or Scholastic.com users can:

• Discover new books through an interactive web that shows how users’ Bookprints are connected
• Find and connect with users across generations and from around the world to see the books in their Bookprints
• Compare their Bookprints to those of the participating “Names You Know,” and find out if they share a book in their Bookprint with famous athletes, award-winning entertainers, world-renowned scientists, or iconic business leaders
• “Favorite” other books they like and check out what similar users enjoy reading
• See which books have been chosen as Favorites from around the world
• Share a book in the real word through Pass It On, which encourages users to give a favorite book to a family member, a friend, or even a complete stranger.
• Coming Soon: Users can join ongoing conversations about books and Bookprints in “Book Buzz,” a live feed of comments, news, and reviews.

You Are What You Read also features a separate community for young readers that provides kid friendly information about books and other activities.

“Books leave an indelible mark on who we are and who we will become,” said Maggie McGuire, Vice President, eScholastic, Kids and Parents Channels. “You Are What You Read is a celebration of the books that bind us together, and the personal connection we feel when we read a great book. In addition, the new site adds a tool in our arsenal to help kids and parents find the books that will keep kids reading every day. We know that parents struggle with this challenge and yet they are the number one source kids’ rely on for recommendations. We plan to help them.”

The site is part of Scholastic’s Read Every Day. Lead a Better Life. global literacy campaign, in celebration of Scholastic’s 90th anniversary. For more information on the Read Every Day campaign, visit scholastic.com/readeveryday.]


Thanks Graham !
Beattie's Book Blog is at http://beattiesbookblog.blogspot.com/

Kiwi kids' writing

Two books of kiwi kids' writing have been published recently...

Leprechaun ice-cream - Magical Tales by Kiwi Kids is the publication resulting from a competition for aspiring young authors (years 1–8), which was run by New Zealand Post in conjunction with the New Zealand Post Children’s Book Awards 2010.
It includes the work of fifty Kiwi kids from all over the country. An expert judging panel, including well-known New Zealand writer Kate De Goldi, selected the winning works from more than 7000 entries. The challenge for the competition was to “share your writing magic”, giving young writers the opportunity to interpret and explore the theme in their individual ways.Order from Learning Media ph 800 800 565 or local bookshops $



http://www.learningmedia.co.nz/our-work/portfolio/leprechaun-ice-cream

and

20 winning stories written by New Zealand children!

When Scholastic ran a Short Story Competition through its Book Clubs, over 1300 entries were received. With the help of educator Jill Eggleton, children’s author Kyle Mewburn and What Now! TV presenter Charlie Panapa, 20 stories across three age groups were selected as the best in the country. Imaginations are thriving! Read these great stories written by NZ children between the ages of 5 and 13 and see for yourself.
ISBN : 9781869439958 Scholastic New Zealand Limited, September 2010 $20

Eva Ibbotson

Bookseller's Press Release :

Eva Ibbotson, the much-loved and celebrated children’s author, died peacefully yesterday at her home in Newcastle. She was 85.

‘Eva Ibbotson weaves a magic like no other. Once enchanted, always enchanted.’ – Michael Morpurgo

Born in Vienna, Austria, which she noted was ‘a very beautiful city ringed by green hills, and a wonderful place for music and the theatre’, Eva Ibbotson came to Britain in 1934 at the age of eight with her family, refugees from Hitler. They were ‘a bedraggled party consisting of my fey, poetic mother, my irascible grandmother and confused aunt (my father – as was customary in my family – was somewhere else)’. Eva was the author of many magical, rich and evocative adventures – over 20 novels for children and adults. She was especially well-known for her books’ fantastic creatures, outrageous characters, and brilliant storytelling – all the product of her famously lively imagination and astute observation of human foibles. In a career stretching over 35 years, Eva’s novels touched the hearts and souls of generations of children (and their parents). She wrote with immense wit, economy and elegance – and her deceptively funny, engaging books always pack an emotional punch, whether she was writing for eight-year-olds or young teens. Eva’s own fierce intelligence, self-deprecating humour, and wonderful quick wittedness are reflected in and will live on through her books.

See also the posts in this blog about Eva Ibbotson's reflections on libraries, and about her latest book, The Ogre of Oglefort - recently shortlisted for the Guardian Fiction Prize 2010.
http://libraryzest.blogspot.com/search/label/Eva%20Ibbotson

Two writing teachers blog

From the Stenhouse publisher's newsletter, here is a snippet about a teaching writing blog and new book which is available to preview online...

The blog post I saw used a picture book to illustrate ways for children to write the noises a cat and dog make beyond miaow and woof...
http://twowritingteachers.wordpress.com/2010/10/21/beyond-meow-and-woof/

and here is a post about helping student writers to "show, don't tell"...
http://twowritingteachers.wordpress.com/2010/10/06/show-dont-tell/


Ruth Ayers and Stacey Shubitz, creators of the popular blog Two Writing Teachers, have translated years of wisdom on writing instruction into a cornucopia of practical advice in their new book, Day by Day. Ruth and Stacey provide encouragement and manageable, bite-sized "discussions" that teachers can review daily to continuously improve their practice.



This blog includes various quotes "words that are speaking to me" - here are a couple...

You have to be brave to take out that white sheet of paper and put on it words that could be evidence of your stupidity. — Sol Saks

I wanted to write literature that pushed people into their lives rather than helping people escape from them. — Harvey Pekar

Seven essentials for project-based learning

From the Curriculum Leadership electronic journal "for leaders in education":
http://cmslive.curriculum.edu.au/leader/default.asp?id=58&issueID=12255

Seven essentials for project-based learning

Educational Leadership Volume 68 Number 1, September 2010; Pages 34–37

John Larmer, John R Mergendoller

Abstract :
Unless projects are meaningful, engaging and challenging for students they may become just another form of 'busy work'. Good quality project work displays seven features.

1. Firstly it inspires students with a need to know about the topic. Interest can be stimulated through an 'entry event' such as a video, lively discussion or field trip. In contrast, students tend not to be motivated by exhortations of the value of the topic to their future studies, careers or test papers.
   
2. Secondly, a driving question encapsulates the projects' purpose in a clear and compelling way. The question may be abstract, eg 'when is war justified?', or concrete.
   
3. The third element is to give students voice and choice, ie options on how to how to pursue the project. The level of choice should be tailored to the particular group of students as well as to the teacher's style. A wide degree of freedom would allow students to decide on the products they create, the resources they need, how they organise their time and even the topic itself.
   
4. Fourthly, the project should call on students to apply 21st century skills of collaboration, communication and critical thinking, perhaps with supports such as rubrics to measure their group's progress in these skills, and through training in public speaking, perhaps through the development of podcasts or videos.
   
5. Fifthly, real inquiry and innovation should be required. Rather than reproducing knowledge from books and websites students should have to develop their own questions, search for resources to answer them, test ideas and pose further questions and draw their own conclusions.
   
6. The sixth component is feedback and revision. Students come to learn that these are typically required for high quality work. Feedback from external experts is particularly valuable. They also learn to critique each other's work.
   
7. The seventh element is public presentation of the completed work. Presentation to a real audience underlines the work's importance to the student.

View full article free online...

100 books challenge

I read a post on LM_Net about a challenge to read a 100 books before the end of the school year - here is a blog by a school librarian who has taken up that challenge and is posting about it... http://briarcliffmslibrary.blogspot.com

"OK - What can I do to read lots of books in a short amount of time and make sure I stay on track? Make a pledge to read 100 books during this school year then post it on the internet and tell all the students in my school so they can keep me honest, of course! My plan is to read 100 books during the 2010-2011 school year. I'm going to read all kinds of stories - funny, sad, scary, adventurous, quiet, long, short, with pictures, without pictures. All kinds of stories. Wish me luck and give me suggestions! I’ll keep you posted on this blog! "

It isn't such a revolutionary idea, but setting oneself a challenge (eg a certain number / by when / different genres...) and keeping a blog about it (or LibraryThing / Shelfari account) is a great way to be reading role model and promote reading to students - and fellow teaching / library staff - eg for summer reading...

NZ short story database

NZ short story database at http://www.waikato.ac.nz/library/resources/nzc/stories/index.shtml

Online storytime Where the wild things are

This month's Barnes and Noble Online Storytime
is Maurice Sendak reading Where The Wild Things Are
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/storytime/index.asp  

Book shelves

Shared by Steph Patrick from the Resource Room Ltd in Pt Chev :
... for those with the time, the inclination, the imagination, the budget, the space....

http://blogof.francescomugnai.com/2010/10/35-of-the-most-incredible-and-creative-bookshelves-ever/

Roxie Munro and book review blog The Looking Glass Review

Here's a link to an interview with maze book illustrator Roxie Munro on what it is like to start a new book:
http://lookingglassreview.blogspot.com/2010/10/what-it-is-like-to-start-new-book.html
and this book review blog is interesting too, eg the post on Banned books - what you can do... http://lookingglassreview.blogspot.com/2010/09/banned-books-week-what-you-can-do.html

More on Digital Citizenship

And related to the previous post, Donna Watt, SLANZA Communications Leader, shared this link on the school library list serv:

This recent post from Libraries and Transliteracy provides a nice summary of the aspects of digital citizenship which should concern us. The link to further reading http://www.digitalcitizenship.net/Publications.html is also worth following up. Good professional reading for revalidation purposes.

New Learn Guide Protect framework from Netsafe

NetSafe has launched a new student centered digital citizenship frame-work entitled Learn: Guide: Protect: (LGP). The frame-work supports schools in creating a culture of responsible, safe use of digital technologies. It provides clear links to the New Zealand Curriculum starting with a definition of ' a digital citizen' based on the NZC values and key competencies.

Learn: Guide: Protect: has three components or layers:

• Learn: the skills students learn to keep themselves safe,
• Guide: the guidance they need from educators to learn how to manage challenges,
• Protect: the protective mechanisms schools can use to improve their immediate safety.

You can learn more about the frame-work here. The LGP frame-work has a companion website www.mylgp.org.nz, The site is a central hub of content, suggestions and ideas contributed by New Zealand educators and NetSafe. Teachers can use the content to build a customized school based professional development programme for staff or a digital citizenship education programme for students.

For more information contact NetSafe at 0508 netsafe (0508 638 723) or email queries@netsafe.org.nz

Author / illustrator websites

From the Teaching Books website :

Author & Illustrator Personal Websites http://www.teachingbooks.net/vl.cgi?c=personal
Official sites overseen by the authors themselves

• Learn how authors think about their books
• Read personal biographies
• Enjoy interactive activities
• Easily contact many authors

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

The Fierce Little Woman and the Wicked Pirate

It was going to be hard to match the original version of this story published in 1984 by Shortland Educational Publications with delightful illustrations by Jo Davies capturing the spirit of the story so perfectly, but Gecko Press have done it, with a new edition of Joy Cowley's story illustrated by Sarah Davis. As the author herself says "I’m in love with this book! Everything about it is utterly beautiful: the design, the colours, the characters... [Illustrator Sarah Davis] has turned it into a classic that people will hug for generations."

Here is a link to Joy's website, with various resources for getting to know Joy - her books and her life, and this page has some useful tips for "Getting young authors started" http://www.joycowley.com/stories.shtml

The artist, Sarah Davis is a New Zealander, now resident in Sydney, and here is a link to her website and her blog called Pseudoarmadillo, a Links page with various connections to "internet goodness" and a few pictures from her Sketchbook.

New Zealand Book Month website

Planning for New Zealand Book Month starts with a new website at http://www.nzbookmonth.co.nz

UK Literacy Trust survey on home reading practice

Young People’s Reading: The importance of the home environment and family support

This paper explores the types of resources young people have at home that support literacy and how this differs according to demographic background, and how home resources relate to reading enjoyment, attitudes and behaviour as well as reading attainment.
It also explores who in their family encourages young people to read, who in their family is seen reading and how frequently young people talk with their family about what they are reading. It also outlines how these differ according to demographic background, and how each of these relate to reading enjoyment, attitudes and behaviour as well as reading attainment.

http://www.literacytrust.org.uk/assets/0000/4954/Young_People_s_Reading_2010.pdf

UK Literacy Trust survey on school library use / non use

From the UK National Literacy Trust, 5 October 2010, a new report :

Linking School Libraries and Literacy: Young people’s reading habits and attitudes to their school library, and an exploration of the relationship between school library use and school attainment

This paper explores what young people think about school libraries - do they use them? If yes, why? If not, why not? It also outlines how school library usage differs according to background demographics and reading attainment, and how it relates to wider enjoyment of reading, attitudes towards reading and reading frequency.

http://www.literacytrust.org.uk/assets/0000/5760/Linking_school_libraries_and_literacy_2010.pdf

In the findings, the majority of young people who use the school library use it because it has books that interest them, it is a friendly space and because they think it will help them do better at school. Most of the 28% of young people who do not use the school library cite the same reasons in reverse, ie because it does not have books that interest them, their friends do not go and because they do not think it will make them do better at school.

Poetry

Today, October 7th, is UK Poetry Day which is celebrated in the latest Books for Keeps (online) newsletter with an interview with Michael Rosen.
On the right hand side of this page there is a Subscribe button to sign up for Books for Keeps newsletters and notification of the latest issue release.

By coincidence, today's The Core newsletter features "some friendly poets" - Billy Collins, Nikki Giovanni, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Mary Oliver, and Richard Wilbur.



The Core October newsletter also features graphic novels and some "best of..." lists for youth - teen fiction, romance books, sports books, and best bets for teen researchers...

S.O.S. for Information Literacy

"A dynamic web-based multimedia resource that includes peer-reviewed lesson plans, handouts, presentations, videos and other resources to enhance the teaching of information literacy (K-16)" http://www.informationliteracy.org/

Voted one of the TOP 25 Best Websites for Teaching and Learning by AASL 2009

A note on the name, S.O.S. - save our souls maybe, but also :
The S.O.S in the title of the project does represent a call to action to enhance information literacy instruction. It also refers to the job that IL instructors must accomplish in preparing IL instruction. That is, they must consider the specific Situation (e.g., grade level, curricula area for integrating IL instruction, etc.), the desired Outcome(s) (e.g., information skill(s) to be learned), and what Strategies (e.g., teaching ideas or specific techniques and methods) they need to include in their instruction in order to achieve the desired outcome.

Free e-book : From the Creative Minds of 21st Century Librarians

Related to the previous post with Joyce Valenza's example - and challenge - of 21st century school librarianship, here is a quote from another interesting resource :

"The challenge for teacher librarians is to figure out how to empower students to be 21st-century learners through our school library programs. Our best path to meet that challenge can be framed from the wisdom of Mahatma Gandhi: “You must be the change you want to see in the world.” We must become 21st –century learners and teachers ourselves first."

From the Creative Minds of 21st Century Librarians is a freely downloadable e-book (licenced under Creative Commons) from the US Centre for Digital Literacy at Syracuse University, School of Information Studies.

http://digital-literacy.syr.edu/projects/view/83

This compilation offers 60 freely available, high quality lesson plans, each of which addresses at least one of the 2008 AASL Standards for the 21st Century Learner, including skills, dispositions, responsibilities and self-assessment strategies. Each lesson plan is organized within an attractive, color-coded, easy-to-follow template that provides a consistent format for succinct yet sufficiently detailed lesson plans, including links to all support materials.

Manifesto for 21st Century School Librarians

On the school library list serv, Catherine Lee, Teacher Librarian at Epsom Girls' Grammar School shared this essay by the inspiring Joyce Valenza, and it is a lively and challenging "job description"...

http://www.voya.com/2010/09/15/tag-team-tech-october-2010/

and my colleague Janet McFadden shared this item:

"The one photo in this report doesn't make this look like the most physically up-to-date library, but as we all know, Joyce Valenza is such a dynamic educator that the services provided are second to none, esp in terms of digital developments. Here's a brief report on the accolade the Springfield Township High School Library has just been given by the AASL:

High school library named best in state
Montgomery Newspapers Staff photo by BOB RAINES By Nicole Jenet
The Springfield Township High School library has been selected as the “outstanding” school library in Pennsylvania ...

Gary Paulsen : "Read like a wolf eats..."

I've just finished Woodsrunner, the latest book by prolific author Gary Paulsen who writes action adventure stories often set in his two "sanctuaries" - the sea and the woods...
It is the story of a 13 year old boy, Samuel, during the American Revolutionary War in 1776 who sets off to rescue his parents who are captured in an attack by British soldiers and Iroquois Indians.

Gary Paulsen is keen not to "sugar coat" the realities of frontier life and of war and so the book is gritty and tough. Each chapter is interspersed with a short non-fiction section which gives more background to aspects of the story - weapons, wounds, covert communication... which I found interesting and useful.

Here is an interview with him from BookPage http://www.bookpage.com/books.php?id=10012790
which ends with the advice to students “I tell young people to read when they tell you not to read and read what they tell you not to read. And I get in trouble sometimes, but not so often. That’s the truth.”

Gary Paulsen is an ardent promoter of reading, and calls television “intellectual carbon monoxide”...

Website design and use

10 usability tips based on Research Studies
This article discusses usability findings of research results such as eye-tracking studies, reports, analytics, and usability surveys pertaining to website usability and improvements.

http://sixrevisions.com/usabilityaccessibility/10-usability-tips-based-on-research-studies/
SOURCE: Stephen's Lighthouse, 22 September 2010

2010 Kids and Family Reading Report

Many children want to read books on digital devices and would read for fun more frequently if they could obtain e-books. But even if they had that access, two-thirds of them would not want to give up their traditional print books.

These are a few of the findings in the recently released study by Scholastic, the American publisher of the Harry Potter books and the “Hunger Games” trilogy.

http://mediaroom.scholastic.com/themes/bare_bones/2010_KFRR.pdf

Previous reports can be located at:
http://mediaroom.scholastic.com/kfrr

SOURCE: New York Times, 29 September 2010

The Story of the Digital Book

A new 10-minute video, ‘The Story of the Digital Book’, takes you behind the scenes, following the journey of one book from the shelf to the screen.

It shows how the UC Libraries work with partner organisations to scan books and make them findable online. It also demonstrates several ways you can use these newly digital books, and explains how they are preserved for the long term.

The video was produced by the California Digital Library's mass digitisation team.
http://www.cdlib.org/services/collections/massdig/massdig_video.html

SOURCE: Peter Scott's Library Blog, 23 September 2010

Joy Cowley’s book for new writers

Celebrated children’s author Joy Cowley distils 40 years of experience as a writer in her new book, Writing from the Heart – How to Write for Children.

Writing from the Heart is essential reading for practising or intending children’s writers – and could well be used by senior students or teachers as a guide to “best practice” creating engaging and exciting works for children of any age. Joy covers plot development, discipline, dialogue, humour, presentation and editing, and there are chapters on the special genres of early readers, fiction for children and teenagers, poetry and plays.

Writing From The Heart is published by the Storylines Children’s Literature Charitable Trust and all proceeds go to assist Storylines in its work to promote children's books and literature. It is available from good bookshops and directly through the Storylines website http://www.storylines.org.nz
RRP $25.00