Save the Date: Decatur Book Festival Is Coming, August 29-31!

 

The 2008 Atlanta Journal-Constitution Decatur Book Festival Presented by DeKalb Medical | Home

 Many thanks to Dr. JoBeth Allen from the University of Georgia Department of Language and Literacy for the heads up on this WONDERFUL event!  I plan to be there…Billy Collins will be giving the keynote address!  Here is the latest info straight from the festival organizers via email:

It’s hard to believe, but here we are preparing to launch the THIRD annual Atlanta Journal-Constitution Decatur Book Festival Presented by DeKalb Medical. The festival has not merely survived its first few years. We’ve built on partnerships with artistic, educational, business, and governmental organizations not only from all over metropolitan Atlanta but from all over the nation. Hosted in the literary haven of Decatur, this festival has quickly joined the ranks of the largest and most talked about book festivals nationwide.
 
 Perhaps we could just keep doing what we’ve been doing and call that good enough, but where’s the fun in that? We’ve added plenty of new and unique programs to this year’s festival:
 
 We’ve had a Children’s Parade since the first year, but this is the first time we’ll be launching a new book at the parade. Not just any book: It’s the first new “Madeline” story in 50 years–”Madeline and the Cats of Rome”–written by John Bemelmans Marciano, the grandson of Ludwig Bemelmans. We encourage everyone to join Marciano in the parade, maybe wear a big yellow hat, sing your favorite French (or, for that matter, Italian) song, or just make some noise.
 
 Though we’ve had programs directed at teenagers from the beginning, 2008 marks the first year we will set aside a space exclusively for teenagers, called Escape. Escape will host best-selling authors for interactive discussions, an open mic and a literary salon. For those under 18, there will also be a quiz show called How Well Do You Know Harry? judged by Cheryl Klein, continuity editor for the last four Harry Potter books.
 
 In a historic partnership, Poets & Writers and Agnes Scott College are working with us to present the best DBF Writers Conferenceyet, with top national editors, agents, critics, publicists, authors, and screenwriters sharing their collective wisdom in a conference tightly integrated with the rest of the book festival. In addition, beginning this year, DBF will host the prestigious Southern Independent Booksellers Association (SIBA) awards ceremony. Many of the nominees will give readings at the festival.
 
 In 2006, we hosted the launch event for the first Atlanta Reads. This year, we’ll launch Atlanta Reads as well as the Big Read, a program of the National Endowment for the Arts. Atlanta’s Big Read will encourage the entire community to read and talk about F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby.”
 
 Still not enough to fill your Labor Day weekend? Check out even more of the new programs that make this year’s festival truly unique:

 Brooks & Co. Dancewill perform a dance inspired by Shirley Jackson’s classic short story, “The Lottery,” set to the music of Stravinsky’s “Rites of Spring” and drawing on Ninjinsky’s seminal choreography to Stravinsky’s work.
 
 In a program called “Words from Iraq,” adult and young actors from PushPush Theater will present multiple perspectives on Iraq through readings of letters children have written to their parents in the military, blogs written by soldiers in Iraq, and a blog by a young Iraqi woman.
 
 In the spirit of the Java Monkey Local Authors Stage, we’re adding a stage for emerging authors just beginning to get their work out into the world, called the Emerging and Exhibiting Authors Stage.
 
 Author and former Olympian runner Jeff Galloway will lead a fun run Saturday morning of the festival, followed by a running clinic.
 
 Lee Smith, Marshall Chapman, Jill McCorkle, and Matraca Berg will all be onstage together to give a taste of their traveling musical–The Good ol’ Girls–about their friendship and the mutual influences of their books and music on one another.
  
 And that’s just the new stuff!
 

You know you can also count on us to bring you the nation’s top authors in our strongest, most diverse line-up yet. You know we’ve got you covered for good food and some of the best singer-songwriters in America. You know we’ll show the whole family a good time. So, come join us this Labor Day weekend for the best AJC Decatur Book Festival yet!    
   
   

 Be sure to check out our 2008 DBF web site,www.decaturbookfestival.com <http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=0010o9b8-G1lEKeg0HJ9PdUjGRNyOgyeblVgbcTsEt5PKylDahxzgliuFLJWKLt-zYIoc45cFGTjIsQlOObVGPCdF6Q_S1hyNoiVHSyZMw4GDtx6o-NqZyAj84pBZOFARsm> .

Innovative Summer Reading Program K-12: Butler School District, New Jersey

A wonderful and interesting article about an innovative approach to summer reading came through my weekly NCTE Inbox e-newsletter tonight.  The Butler Public School District in New Jersey has implemented a new summer reading program for 2008 that shies away from traditional classics and tests and instead embraces contemporary novels and an emphasis on reading for pleasure (how refreshing!!!).  No threats, no incentives, no extrinsic motivation—just a schoolwide focus and expectation on reading a text that is interesting, enjoyable, and accessible during the summer months! 

According to the Star-Ledger, “District officials said their goal is to get students reading — and excited about reading — during the summer months. They also developed a district-wide summer reading theme — celebrating differences — that Butler schools plan to weave through their curriculums during next school year. “

The superintendent, Rene Rovtar, also goes on to say, “Summer reading … is sometimes viewed as very ineffective. Families go on vacations at the end of August and suddenly there are multiple books that have not been touched,”  “The purpose is to build an enjoyment of reading that they will hopefully take with them long after they leave.”

What is especially innovative about this program is that it encompasses all grades, not just the high school students.   Take time to read the article , and I think you too will be impressed at the planning and forethought the district has placed in this program.   I am also impressed at the philosophy that underpins this approach; additionally, the actions at the district and school level (outlined in the article) speak volumes to the students about the authenticity and value of this summer reading project. 

I would like to see more districts in our area follow the lead of the Butler Public School District! 

Lifehacker: “The Books That Changed Your Lives”

Book Recommendations: The Books That Changed Your Lives

OK…I know I just blogged one book list, but here is another one you will enjoy from Lifehacker:  “The Books That Changed Your Lives.”   Take a look at this list that is based on input from 250+ comments from Lifehacker readers and see what you think….a short summary and link to Amazon reviews are provided to help you explore these texts. 

What books have changed your life and why/how?

Entertainment Weekly Names The Top 100 Books of The Last 25 Years

The New Classics: Books | EW 1000: Books | Books | The EW 1000 | Entertainment Weekly

Bibliophiles always seem to love chewing on yet another book list, and Entertainment Weekly provides us more fodder in their newly released “Top 100 Books of the Last 25 Years”.  Or as Phil Kloer, AJC book reviewer, points out, “Everyone loves lists prepared by magazine editors or bloggers or the like. Not the actual lists, but the act of reading them and reacting to them.”

Take a look at the Entertainment Weekly list available at http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20207076_20207387_20207349,00.html.  What do you think?  Do you agree with these lists?  Disagree?  What would you put on the list?  Are you inspired to read or find out more about any of these titles?

I’ll open the discussion by saying I disagree with nearly every bit of EW’s top 10!  I definitely would have placed A Prayer for Owen Meany much higher.  My big question:  Where is The English Patient in this list?!?!?

Looking Ahead: Teen Read Week October 2008!

Information for Teen Read Week 2008 is now available from YALSA!  This year’s theme is “Books with Bite”—how delicious!  :-)  Teen Read Week will be celebrated October 12–18, so now is the time to start planning ahead!

One terrific resource is the Teen Read Week 2008 Wiki!  This wiki is truly a gold mine of ideas and resources for celebrating Teen Read Week and ways to incorporate the theme, “Books with Bite”, into your festivities! 

Teen Read Week - YALSA

 Another fabulous resource is the Programming Ideas page at http://www.ala.org/ala/yalsa/teenreading/trw/trw2008/activities/index.cfm. Here you can read more about ways to incorporate podcasts, tech programs, a fim festival, a taste test, display contests, and more for your week of celebrations!

If you are a librarian, go to http://www.ala.org/ala/yalsa/teenreading/trw/trw2008/registration/index.cfm to register now!  There are some great incentives for the first 100 registrants, including the following:

2008 Registration Incentives

1. The first 100 registrants to sign up for YALSA’s Teen Read Week will receive a free, unabridged young adult audiobook compliments of Teen Read Week Promotional Partner Listening Library. Teens at your library will enjoy hearing their favorites novels come to life on audio.
2. All new regular members of YALSA who join through the Teen Read Week Web site will receive two free paperbacks courtesy Promotional Partner Scholastic.
3. The first 4,000 registrants will receive one free paperback from Galaxy’s Golden Age series, courtesy Promotional Partner Galaxy Press.
4. Register by midnight on July 14 and you could win a free copy of Breaking Dawn, the latest entry in the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer, courtesy Promotional Partner Hachette Book Group USA/Little, Brown & Co. On July 15, we’ll select 200 registrants at random.
5. Twenty-five registrants will be chosen at random to receive a complete set of titles from Zest Books (about fifteen books total). The drawing will be held on Mon. Sept. 15, 2008.
6. One lucky registrant will win alibrary of Mirrorstone titles, approximate value $500 and based on availability. Five runner ups will win an autographed copy each of Sucks to Be Me and The Stowaway. The drawing will be held on Mon. Sept. 15, 2008.
7. All registrants can download YALSA’s pocket-sized, illustrated Books with Bite Recommended Reading Pamphlet, full of recommended titles drawn from YALSA’s awards and booklists and annotated by YALSA’s Teen Read Week committee. These trifold pamphlets can be printed on 8.5 x 11″ paper, cut to size, and then handed out to teens by the dozens.

 

What Counts As Reading?

Beloved author Jon Scieszka, who was just named the National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature by the Library of Congress and Children’s Book Council, recently wrote a guest column in The New York Times entitled “Turn Page on Kids’ Book Boredom”.   I think the four major tips he offers are simple yet powerful:

1. Let the reader choose what they like and want to read. Fiction doesn’t have to be everyone’s favorite. I’ll never forget my own son’s reaction reading “Little House on the Prairie” (a favorite of many other readers): “Are they really going to spend this whole chapter making a door?”

2. Expand the definition of “reading” to include nonfiction, humor, graphic novels, magazines, action adventure and, yes, even Web sites. If a child enjoys reading, the focus of his or her reading will naturally broaden. He won’t read only shark books forever.

3. Be a good reading role model. Show your kids what you like to read, what you don’t like to read, how you choose what you read. Let kids see you reading.

4. Avoid demonizing television, computer games, and new technologies. Electronic media may compete for kids’ attention, but we are not going to get kids reading by badmouthing other entertainment. Instead, talk with kids about how reading can make a world in ways that movies and games can’t - and admit that TV and games can do things books can’t.

In a separate interview with School Library Journal, Scieszka also offers this piece of advice to teachers and librarians:

The thing teachers and librarians can do is to really step back and take a look at their required-reading lists: they don’t have to be all fiction; they can include alternative genres—and they should absolutely include some nonfiction.

Humor is another genre that gets slighted. You don’t see that many funny books on required-reading lists. Thank God Holes got the Newbery Medal, because otherwise I think people would have just skipped over it and said, “Ah, Louis Sachar, he writes some funny stuff.” People often think that humorous books aren’t really legitimate. So all of those things—nonfiction, graphic novels, science fiction, humor—should be on teachers’ and librarians’ lists.

I found these articles and comments interesting for two reasons.  First, it speaks to the issue of the general concern in our country about the decline in reading among young people.  More importantly, though, these articles raise the question of “What counts as reading”?

In elementary and middle school, students’ reading choices are often dictated by their “STAR”/Accelerated Reader Level (or something comparable) or a Lexile.  While the intentions behind these scores are typically honorable, I believe the consequences of using these kinds of scores/programs have long term negative effects.  I am always fascinated by high school students’ reflections on their experiences with Accelerated Reader.  Never have I heard one say, “It made me want to be a lifelong reader.”  Instead, I either hear immense relief at being liberated from the restraints of the program and requirements imposed by teachers or I hear students say because there are no longer any external rewards (”prizes”), they see no reason to read.  I have heard this over and over again both as a high school English teacher and a high school librarian.   During the one year I did elementary library, I can’t tell you how often I cringed when a well-meaning teacher would tell a student he or she could not check out a book because it was not the “right” level. 

I was a voracious reader as a child (at home and in school), but I can assure you I might not have been a lifelong reader had AR or something comparable been imposed on me in my early years. 

On the flip side of the K-12 spectrum, I have been a witness and a participant in debates about reading lists for high school students in English courses and what choices should be included on those lists.  Deep rooted traditions, educators’ personal experiences, district mandates, and political agendas drive who and what makes the final cut on these lists.   In recent years, I can’t tell you how many times I wished there was more room in the curriculum for more contemporary literature.   This “wish” was expressed by other media specialists at our recent January district meeting.

Yes, there are many classics worth our students’ time, but these classics often crowd out high quality and engaging modern literature that speaks to our students.  One example would be Nancy Springer’s I am Mordred.  During 2006-07, I elected to use this novel in place of some of the more traditional Arthurian legend novels on our district’s reading list (I will add that Mordred is an approved novel on the district list, but from what I have gathered in talking to other English teachers in our district, it is not one that many people are aware of or may not be perceived as “higher level” reading).  In the three times I read this novel with three different sets of 10th grade students, I was amazed, awed, and humbled by the connections my students made with this text and how it fired up their interest in Arthurian lore.   Not to “dis” other great Arthurian texts, but The Once and Future Kingjust does not speak to many young adults the way that Nancy Springer’s novel does.  Furthermore, one group of students was so perplexed by unanswered questions they had about the novel that we emailed Nancy Springer our “wonderings”.  We were thrilled and delighted to receive a response to *every* question within two days!  Hearing from a real life author was thrilling to my students and validated their thoughtful questions about the novel!  Susan Lester and Kim Blakenship, two fellow English teachers who used this novel with their students, have had the same experiences:  students who may have never enjoyed reading or read a book as an adolescent, totally got into this novel. 

As Scieszka points out, it takes only one great reading experience to hook a child or teenager on reading.   As a librarian, I try to provide a diverse range of books and magazines that meet the reading interests and needs of our students.  One of the most liberating things about being a high school librarian is helping students find a book or author that the student wants to read for fun, not because he or she has to do so!  Nothing is more thrilling to see the delighted surprise and excitement in the eyes of a teenager who connects to a genre or author!

The question, “What counts as reading?” is not a new one.  In my research as a M.Ed. student and Ed.S. student at the University of Georgia, the question was explored in my Language and Literacy Education classes.  Plenty of healthy debate as well as qualitative research studies abound regarding this question, yet the conversation of “What counts as reading?” does not seem to be reaching many veteran teachers or even or new teachers who are spanking brand new out of undergrad teacher education. 

I hope this question and conversations about it will become more commonplace as we try to balance traditional values and beliefs about reading with the “new literacies” that are evolving right before our eyes.  I hope that our libraries will be places where there are many and diverse answers to “What counts as reading?”!