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In July I was in Washington DC to visit my daughter. Among the many things I did while there was visit the Reading is Fundamental office. As I waited in their reception area, I noted the books on their coffee table. Among them was Joseph Bruchac's excellent Buffalo Song:

Seeing it did two things:

First, it isn't often that a great book by a Native author greets me as I sit in a waiting room. My heart soared.

Second, its presence on that table is evidence that the people at Reading is Fundamental are committed to providing recipients of their books with ones that accurately portray Native people. Books that don't stereotype or romanticize who we are, and who we were...  They're important! Not just to Native readers, but non-Native ones, too!

In 2008, I posted Beverly Slapin's review of Buffalo Song.

Bruchac's book is superior to Jean Craighead George's The Buffalo Are Back. My review of her book is here: Jean Craighead George's THE BUFFALO ARE BACK. 

Read Slapin's review of Bruchac's book and get a copy. If you've got one on on your shelf, feature it in a display. For many kids, school is starting. Featuring it now helps get Native culture into the hands of children right away. Don't wait till that month designated for Native Americans (November) to share books by Native peoples.

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Cathy Gifford, like so many program directors, was on a tight budget. In 2011, the director at Jean Dean RIF (Reading is Fundamental) found herself needing to cut 14,000 books from her program. This meant that many of the children she served in her Alabama town would go without the gift of reading this year.

Cathy came to First Book with her dilemma. Because she needed many copies of a few specific titles, we were able to complete a special order for her – working with publishers to drive down the cost of each book to a price Jean Dean RIF could afford.

The result?  Over the last three years Cathy has been able to purchase 45,000 books to be distributed through Jean Dean RIF for only $114,000.  That’s an average of just $2.50 per book, and  savings of 64% overall.  And most importantly, 25,000 kids every year are getting brand new books – many for the first time – to give them a strong start in life.

Every year, Alabama RIF helps close to 25,000 at-risk young children receive three books in their homes to help them succeed when they get to school, and go on to thrive in life thanks to our partnership and your generosity.

Need more than 1,000 copies of a single title? Reach out to us about a Special Order at [email protected].  We look forward to helping you get all the books you need for your kids!

The post Success Stories: 45,000 More Books in Alabama appeared first on First Book Blog.

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Like many causes of equality, the issue of diversity in children's literature is nothing new, though I am hopeful that the rising voices across multiple platforms can affect change. But it's also a great time to acknowledge some of the heroes of the cause along the way... or at least those that somehow are connected to the 48 Hour Book Challenge.

Thank you to Reading is Fundamental, who will contribute their Multicultural STEAM Book Collections sponsored by Macy's to be donated by winner to a school or other child serving organization where they will be used. These wonderful collections have been part of the RIF initiative for a while, bringing diverse books to kids who need them. I will award one collection to a random selected winner from all 48 Hour Book Challenge finishers who complete twelve hours or more during the weekend. Thanks again to RIF for their support.

Thank you to A Year of Reading who made me teary-eyed with this:
In honor of all of the reading Pam has inspired over the years with her blog and with 48HBC, and especially because of the #WeNeedDiverseBooks focus this year, we are making a donation in her honor to First Book, a non-profit organization that provides access to new books for children in need.
I am not only touched by the gesture of Franki and Mary Lee, but am so excited that they would donate to another hero of the cause, as First Book stepped up with a commitment to purchase 10,000 copies of diverse books it selects to distribute. And that's just another step for an organization already devoted to the cause of Stories for All.

Another note of appreciation goes to Lee & Low Books, who've continued to send me review copies even as I've been less than great about getting reviews published. But for me, they've exposed me to a world of titles that I've been able to ask my public library to acquire. For you, they've now contributed a collection of books that I'll be giving out as prizes to 48 Hour Book Challenge winners. I'd also like to thank them for just being there, publishing books that are so very needed. I suspect it is not the most profitable business model that could be conceived in an industry that always seems to be chasing the next Harry Potter or Wimpy Kid or Twilight series, but it's honorable and admirable. Thank you Lee & Low Books, for being a leader in diversity.

Thanks go out to my KidLitosphere buddies who have been promoting the 48HBC through blogs, tweets, and listservs so that we can have a weekend reading and sharing titles for all kids. Thanks to #WeNeedDiverseBooks as a movement and website, which invigorated me to take my weekend off work and give it back to books.

An official 48 Hour Book Challenge sign-in goes up tomorrow morning, but I'd love to see your comments or book lists on the original post or here. Thanks!

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Thank you, PiBoIdMo participants, guest bloggers and illustrators. Do you know what you did?

You helped me raise $433.62 to donate to RIF, Reading is Fundamental.

 

Your purchases via the PiBoIdMo CafePress Shop made it possible.

For every $10 donated, RIF is able to distribute four books to a child in need.

FOUR BOOKS!

So last month I made my way down to RIF Headquarters in D.C. I toured their offices and talked with RIF staff about the important work they’re doing.

One staff member had just returned from a county in Appalachia, where 28% of the schoolchildren were officially homeless, and where even more lived in crowded trailers with multiple families apiece.

The school Principal told RIF that amazingly, their test scores rose from 9th percentile to the 22nd percentile in just one year. To what did they attribute that growth? RIF! Now that these children have books of their own, they’re able to continue learning at home and over the summer break instead of being left behind. Books are AMAZING. But you already knew that, right?

As part of my trip to RIF, my publisher, the Aladdin imprint of Simon & Schuster, donated 100 copies of THE MONSTORE to the children at Bancroft Elementary in Washington, D.C. I was honored to appear at the school to talk to the children about writing and to personally sign every copy.

The best moment of the day? When I told the children they’d each be going home with a copy of my book. They cheered and hoorayed, and two besties in the front row hugged each other so tight they tumbled over in joy. Now that’s a great day for any author. Thank you, Aladdin and RIF!

I have something else important to tell you.

RIF’s donations have taken a plummet in recent times. The economy has hit them hard. So please consider donating directly. Remember $10 = 4 books!

Donate here. Or here.

And again, thank you for making the PiBoIdMo donation possible!

 

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As we get ready to Rock the Drop on Thursday, the 17th, here's a list of seven philanthropies you might look into. Get your book ready to drop with a bookplate and think how else you might contribute to Support Teen Literature Day!

Operation Teen Book Drop, 2014 – Seven Literary Philanthropies We Love

1. Girls Write Now
Founded in 1998, Girls Write Now is the first organization in the country with a writing and mentoring model exclusively for girls. Girls Write Now provides guidance, support, and opportunities for at-risk and underserved girls from New York City’s public high schools to develop their creative, independent voices, explore careers in professional writing, and learn how to make healthy school, career and life choices.

2. First Book
A recognized leader in social enterprise, First Book has pioneered groundbreaking channels to provide new books and educational resources at deeply reduced prices — and for free — to schools and programs serving children in need.

3. 826 National
826 National is a nonprofit organization that provides strategic leadership, administration, and other resources to ensure the success of its network of eight writing and tutoring centers. Its mission is based on the understanding that great leaps in learning can happen with one-on-one attention, and that strong writing skills are fundamental to future success.

4. The Lisa Libraries
The Lisa Libraries donates new children's books and small libraries to organizations that work with kids in poor and under-served areas. It was started by author Ann M. Martin and friends to honor and memorialize children's book editor Lisa Novak. Since its founding in 1990, the Lisa Libraries has contributed over 300,000 books to nonprofit organizations across the country.

5. Room to Read
Room to Read works in collaboration with communities and local governments across Asia and Africa to develop literacy skills and a habit of reading among primary school children, and support girls to complete secondary school with the life skills they’ll need to succeed in school and beyond.

6. Reading is Fundamental
Reading Is Fundamental (RIF) is the largest children’s literacy nonprofit in the United States. It prepares and motivates children to read by delivering free books and literacy resources to those children and families who need them most. RIF inspires children to be lifelong readers through the power of choice.

7. World Literacy Foundation
The World Literacy Foundation is an independent not-for-profit charitable body, founded in Australia in 2003 that acknowledges education as a basic human right, and believes that literacy unlocks the door to a life of learning.

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It's coming! Support Teen Literature Day is Thursday, April 17th, 2014! So we all need to get ready for Operation Teen Book Drop. Above is the banner celebrating the day and our fabulous sponsors: iheartdaily and Justine Magazine. Feel free to grab and share it!

Below is the bookplate for you to print and glue into the young adult book you choose to drop in a public gathering place to Rock the Drop on April 17th. Follow us on facebook and twitter and plan to post a pic. #rockthedrop

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Carol Rasco, president and CEO of Reading Is Fundamental (RIF), recently answered some questions about the importance of the RIF and First Book partnership that has been established for many years. 

Q: RIF and First Book are sometimes thought of as competitors rather than partners. Could you put this myth to rest and explain the importance of this partnership?

Carol Rasco:  RIF and First Book have been close partners for many years. The missions and values of both our organizations are closely aligned, as we both strive to ensure that children in need have the high-quality books and resources they need to be successful.

Far from being competitors, we are strong collaborators! Through our continually growing partnership, more than 1,000 RIF programs across the country are able to access new, quality books for their kids through the First Book Marketplace. At the same time, many of the programs in First Book’s network use our resources for teachers, parents and community volunteers. These materials are developed based on Common Core Standards and cover multicultural favorites and science, technology, engineering, the arts and math themes.

We consider ourselves soldiers in the same war to close the gap of inequity when it comes to educational materials for kids in poverty, and we will continue fighting side by side to get more books into the hands of kids in need.

Q:  How have First Book and RIF worked together in the past?

Carol Rasco:  For over a decade, First Book has served as a distributor in the RIF Ready Pack program, providing access to low-cost collections of high-quality titles for RIF programs nationwide, through the First Book Marketplace.

In recent years, First Book and RIF have collaborated on numerous special projects such as the distribution of 600,000 new books nationwide in 2010-2011, a joint effort to support programs affected by Superstorm Sandy by providing 1,500 new books to Sandy affected areas in 2012, and, most recently, First Book won the bid to distribute 120,000 books for RIF’s Multicultural STEAM reading collection.  I also currently serve, and have served for several years, on First Book’s Advisory Council.

Q:   What are RIF and First Book currently working on together?

Carol Rasco:  RIF and First Book have recently joined together to distribute one million, brand-new books to RIF programs across the country, thanks to RIF’s long-time partnership with Macy’s! To date 500,000 new books have been distributed to RIF programs serving kids with the highest levels of need and the remaining 500,000 books will be dispersed, through the First Book Marketplace, prior to summer break. This initiative has allowed RIF to maximize our resources and acquire books for our programs through First Book at a cost way below retail price.  In addition, the distribution of these books has focused on key times when kids are out of school and in high need for resources, including summer break, when so many children in low-income areas are without the education tools they need to prevent learning loss over the summer months.

Q:   What are RIF’s plans for this partnership going forward?

Carol Rasco:  We know we can count on First Book’s ongoing support for our RIF programs and we are excited to continue growing our partnership and developing more creative initiatives to get high-quality books into the hands of kids in need!

 

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Earlier this week The New York Times published an article discussing how young Latino students are not seeing themselves in books frequently enough, and the obstacle many educators feel that omission puts in the path for enjoyment as well as for learning from books for these young children. The Cooperative Children’s Book Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison of Education, which compiles statistics about the race of authors and characters in children’s books published each year, notes that in 2011 only 3 percent of the 3400 books reviewed were written by or about Latinos; this proportion is unchanged over the last decade. And yet, Hispanic students are one quarter of the nation’s public school enrollment.

Several years ago Reading Is Fundamental (RIF) initiated our Multicultural Literacy Campaign, borne from our concern with the NAEP figures we were studying from years past and the distance with which African-American, HIspanic and American Indian children continued to perform behind their Asian and Caucasian peers. Our campaign is a multi-year effort designed in part to provide children the opportunity to explore and learn about their own culture and the culture of others, the “mirrors and windows with sliding glass doors” concept as articulated by Dr. Rudine Sims Bishop. One component of our effort is a yearly compilation of multicultural book sets through the generous sponsorship of Macy’s; these sets are distributed to more than 500 sites annually with the book lists and activities posted online for all to use.

RIF held the launch for the 2012 collection at the Library of Congress Young Readers’ Center with a panel made up of authors and illustrators whose books are featured in that “CELEBRATIONS” collection; the panel was chaired by Dr. Violet Harris, a literacy expert and chair of RIF’s Literature Advisory Board.

In her presentation, Dr. Harris set the context for the audience regarding the need for multicultural literature for all children, literature representing as many cultures as possible by discussing the work of Dr. Nancy Larrick, the second president (56-57) of the International Reading Association. Larrick is said to have noted the impetus for her oft-quoted study in the early 1960′s was when a five year old black girl asked her why all the children were white in the books she read. Her question came more than 20 years after Charlemae Rollins and others had begun a campaign for more positive examples of blacks and black culture in books for children. The lack of progress as well as that little girl’s sincere question compelled Dr. Larrick to investigate and produce the article “The All White World of Children’s Books” published in The Saturday Review of Books in 1965.

Rollins had published her groundbreaking We Build Together in 1948; this is a publication which “highlighted criteria for choosing books that portrayed Blacks realistically and built democratic attitudes among all people.” Rollins noted in her publication:

For many years books about Negro children followed a stereotyped pattern. The characters portrayed were the barefoot menial, or the red-lipped clown. Rarely did the Negro character in a story where there were other children ever take part in the story as equals. Illustrators, it seemed, could not resist presenting the quaint ‘pickaninny type’.

With regret we note today the change in children’s literature has not kept pace as many of us would have hoped. Similar statements can be made and are indeed written about the lack of inclusion of other cultures in children’s literature.

As Dr. Harris further noted ”…I want to emphasize…, it is a fight that goes on constantly. Each generation or even every couple of years it is two steps forward, one step back.” And further food for thought from Dr. Harris was her question to us: How can we say to the rest of the world that you need to model yourselves after us, our educational systems, our political systems, our economic systems and so forth, when we disenfranchise a significant portion of our citizenry?

You have finished a month of hard work producing ideas for picture books. As you move further into and with each idea, I challenge you to give very serious attention to the issue of children seeing themselves as well as having a window on the world. The book does not always need to be “about” diversity…perhaps it will be like HOW MANY SEEDS IN A PUMPKIN? by Margaret McNamara and illustrated by G. Brian Karas. The classroom shown through the illustrations is diverse, and I have actually heard children mention that diversity they can see in the book. The experience of seeing the diversity present in a book was new to them, but a common everyday experience in the school each attends.

We as a nation have much to do to prepare each child as fully as possible to read well. One element and one relevant to your work is to show we indeed as a nation value each child and celebrate each child; and part of that visible celebration must be that each child sees and reads about children “just like me.”

Book People Unite!

P. S. How can I post on this blog without giving a roaring round of applause to Tara for her sponsorship of PiBoIdMo as well as personally say ‘Thank You” to her and to all who have purchased from the PiBoIdMo store where the proceeds come to RIF. We are deeply appreciative!

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Carol H. Rasco is President and CEO of RIF. She joined RIF in 2001. Throughout her life, Carol has been a devoted advocate for children, youth, and families, as a professional and as a volunteer.

Prior to this position, Carol was the executive director for government relations at the College Board. From 1997 through 2000, Carol served as the senior adviser to U.S. Secretary of Education Richard W. Riley, and as director of the America Reads Challenge, a four-year national campaign to promote the importance of all children reading well and independently by the end of the 3rd grade. Previously, Carol worked for four years in the White House as domestic policy adviser to the president and directed the Domestic Policy Council.

Originally from Arkansas, Carol worked as the chief policy adviser in the Arkansas governor’s office for 10 years and also served as the liaison to the National Governors Association. Additionally, Carol has extensive experience as a volunteer for arts organizations and disability advocacy groups. Carol received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Arkansas and earned a master’s degree from the University of Central Arkansas. She has taught in the public school system and worked as a middle school counselor.

Carol serves on the Board of Trustees of Columbia College in Columbia, South Carolina. She is the mother of Hamp and Mary-Margaret, and the proud grandmother of William and Charlie Marks.

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Video courtesy of rifweb: Once upon a time it would have been a far-fetched story to see the Big Bad Wolf co-piloting Little Red’s convertible, or the landlocked Three Bears crossing paths with the sea-faring Captain Ahab. But like all good stories it takes a liberal supply of imagination, a heroic cast of characters and an urgent mission to make the unbelievable, believable. This video takes you behind the scenes of the campaign to show you how the magic was made.

Visit http://www.bookpeopleunite.org to watch the PSA and take the pledge today.

©2012 The Childrens Book Review. All Rights Reserved.

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The top winner of the Seventh Annual 48 Hour Book Challenge is not a person, but a cause. The pledges from our band of crazy-reading bloggers totaled $1220 for Reading Is Fundamental! As a few more pledges come in, that number may go up a bit but for now let's give that amount it's own line...

$1220. WOW!!!

In the interest of opening up our potential prize giveaway, I've selected random winners from each of three categories of participation, that being up to 23 hours, up to 35 hours, and up to 48 hours. Our winners will receive a special MotherReader prize package along with RIF's Celebrations collection to be donated to a school or non-profit of the recipients choice. Those winners are:

Sprout's Bookshelf
A librarian-in-training and lifelong children's book addict.

Kid Lit Geek
Another children's librarian, book reviewer, and voracious reader.

Over the Moon and Sun
Who came in with a perfect 48 hours of reading, blogging, and connecting.

Door prizes were selected from all the participants, just to keep it fun. Karen at Literate Lives will received a signed ARC of The Prairie Thief by Melissa Wiley; Courtney at Stilettos Storytime will receive a signed copy of The Latte Rebellion by Sarah Stevenson. Ms. Yingling will receive notecards and a copy of Solace in Nature from Jone Rush MacCulloch. All winners please email me your address at MotherReader AT gmail DOT com.

I'm out of time and energy to list our Twenty-Hour club, but you might as well look at the Finish Line since thirty of them participated for twenty or more hours. So we may not have as many folks as last year, but we have passionate ones!

Thanks to all of the bloggers who mentioned, tweeted about, and otherwise promoted the 48 Hour Book Challenge. Thanks to the bloggers for your contributions to Reading Is Fundamental and just for making this such a wonderful event!

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50 Book Pledge | Book #25: The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Over the past several months I have been come across some truly incredible advertising campaigns. The aim of each one is to encourage people — young and old — to read. I’ve been so impressed that I couldn’t miss the opportunity to highlight their creativity.

1. Milwaukee Public Library

2. Colsubsidio Book Exchange

3. Reading Is Fundamental

4. Burning Through Pages

I applaud the minds behind these campaigns for thinking outside of the box. I can’t bring myself to pick a favourite: It’s a tie between Colsubsidio Book Exchange and Burning Through Pages. I love their simplistic approach. How about you? Do you have a favourite?

0 Comments on The Message Is Simple: Read as of 5/3/2012 6:40:00 AM