So did you have fun yesterday?
Donalyn Miller, her guests, and contributors set the bar P-R-R-I-I-T-T-E-E high talking about
creating a reading culture at home and school. We got a few nibbles on our
first set of Writing @ Reading prompts, too.
With our focus today on reading as a passport to other worlds, we have selected prompts that help all of us "read widely."
- An acquaintance wants a book about a culture unlike his/her own ... You've got 100 words to pitch your favorite book. Pitch us!
- Are there cultural traditions from other parts of the world that you learned about through reading that you've incorporated into your own family traditions?
- Similarly, was there something you read in a book that prompted you to learn more about a particular person, place, time beyond your own personal "here and now"?
Our goal with the questions is to reach new places for sharing our reading and literacy experiences and ideas, and we'd love to include your voice, too. Here's how it works ...
1. Select the question(s) that resonates with you.
2. Find an old post or write a new one that answers the question. [Be sure to grab a Share a Story button from the sidebar to include in your new post!]
3. Add your post as a comment.
4. (optional) Tweet about your post and include @ShareaStory or the #SAS-12 hashtag.
We'll be adding links for the questions all week, so there's no rush to have an answer the same day a question is posted ... unless you are entering the contest to receive the RIF
2012 Multicultural Books Collection for your school or public library.
All entries must be posted by Noon, Thursday, 8 March 2012 to be entered in our random drawing. Winners announced Friday, 9 March 2012.
[image credit: Share a Story Logo created by author/illustrator
Elizabeth Dulemba.]
Welcome to Share a Story ~ Shape a Future 2011. This is our third annual blog tour for literacy, and if we must say so ourselves, it is our biggest yet! Holy cow what a lineup of folks this week.
As you may remember from other posts, the theme this year is Unwrapping the Gift of Literacy. We picked this theme because it embodies several ideas ...
- that the ability to read IS a gift ... one that lasts a lifetime; and
- that literacy is a gift we can easily give to and share with someone else ... with minimal cost.
And who doesn't like receiving and giving presents?
Over the course of the week bloggers from around the world will be sharing their personal stories and offering tips that we hope will encourage and/or inspire you to share YOUR gift with someone in your family and/or community.
I know I said it the other day, but it's worth repeating: Although our focus is on young readers-to-be and readers-in-need, there are millions of adults who don't know how to read. If working with adults is something that interests you, we encourage you to visit Zoe's well-annotated list of literacy charities from around the world at
Playing by the Book or our
Reading & Literacy Wiki.
Now, on with our kickoff. Today's theme -
The Power of a Book - is so big that we need co-hosts.
, President and CEO of Reading is Fundamental, mom, grandma, and energizer bunny, will start us off with
The Power of a Book: 380 Times to Date! Join Carol at
Rasco from RIF as she ...
- shares the RIF experience of presenting a choice of books to children who have often never owned a book of their own until their first RIF distribution.
- shares memories of RIF kids who, years later, recall that moment and how it affected them for years to come
- explains a recent meta-analysis about the positive outcomes of book lending programs.
Carol also has a number of guest bloggers
who will share their organization’s experience in presenting books to children. Among them ...Be sure to go to
Rasco from RIF for Carol's full lineup.
Donalyn Miller, aka
the Book Whisperer, is a mom, educator, and rabid reader! She and her guests will be talking about the intangible power of a book.
- Paul W. Hankins,
- Terri Lesesne
As direct links to posts go live, we will come back and update this post.
Image credit
Presents animated gif - bestgraphs.com
If it's March then it must be time to share your love of reading. Read Across America and World Book Day have put us in an oh-so-perfect frame of mind for Share a Story ~ Shape a Future 2011.
Over the last month, our hosts have been crazy-busy identifying, inviting, and coordinating posts with their guests, not to mention thinking about their own posts. This is an unbelievably enthusiastic crew, and each person we've contacted has said "yes" without any hesitation. At last count, there were more than 35 people participating!
All week long our literacy curators are sharing personal stories, photographs, writers journals, and lots of great ideas. Did you notice the change to the term literacy curators did you notice that in this post? Brenda Power of Choice Literacy used that term in a recent Big Fresh and it just seems so appropriate in describing the Share a Story ensemble. )
Okay, here's what you've been waiting for a few more tidbits about next week.
- Author and TV personality Katie Davis (of Katie Davis' Brain Burps) has an exclusive interview with Terry Doherty, founder of The Reading Tub. Look for her podcast early in the week.
- Mrs. P. of MrsP.com has written an original story, will give us a demonstration of how her website is a portal to reading, AND is launching a new program. [Still a secret!]
- Award-winning authors Tanita S. Davis and Mitali Perkins, and Hannah Ehrlich of Lee & Low Books join Terry Doherty in a roundtable discussion about multiculturalism in books for children and teens.
- Elizabeth Dulemba, Sarah Mulhern (The Reading Zone), Donalyn Miller (The Book Whisperer), Franki Sibberson and Mary Lee Hahn (A Year of Reading), and their author and illustrator friends will be talking about how they fell in love with reading, who gave them the gift of reading, becoming a write, and ... well, we can't tell you everything now, can we? Here are some of their friends: Sarah Darer Littman, Kathi Appelt, JP Voelkel, Paul W. Hankins, Terri Lesesne, Mitali Perkins, Megan McCafferty, Jess Leader, Jonathan Auxier, Courtney Sheinmel, Barbara Dee.
It is going to be such an awesome week! Each day we'll post the day's lineup here and then publish the Writing @ Reading prompts. We hope you'll join in by adding posts of your own ... link them with the host or here on the Share a Story blog.
I know I said it the other day, but it is worth repeating: Although our focus is on young readers-to-be and readers-in-need, there are millions of adults who don't know how to read. If working with adults is something that interests you, we encourage you to visit Zoe's well-annotated list of literacy charities from around the world at
Playing by the Book or our
Reading & Literacy Wiki.
"An acquaintance wants a book about a culture unlike his/her own" - 100 word Pitch<br /><br />An American child can begin his/her literally cultural journey by reading “A Bear Called Paddington” by Michael Bond. It’s an ideal book to take them on a quest into European/South American culture! <br />The book begins by introducing one of the most lovable Peruvian bears, Paddington! <br />