How to use this Page

StoryTubesis a video project that features 2-minute or shorter “my favorite book” videos created by students. The project is ssponsored by public libraries. This year, it accepted videos from the United States and Canada, and there are more than 400 videos. Check it out, and vote for your favorites.

I think it’s a great idea to get kids excited about books–and to help promote books and reading. What do you think?

Thanks to ALSC for the link.

Hello all, Darth Bill coming at you from my fly Tie-Fighter way out here in space!!!!!! Check it out:



Okay I'm going to do something I don't do often. I am going to give a complement to "The Carlman" for throwing caution to the side and doing an excellent job of memorizing and videoing his rendition of "The Gettysburg Address." Yes Carlman, you rocked (man that's so hard for me to say for some reason....maybe cause he called me a chicken, hum.....).























That's right Carlman, meet the doomslayer of all heroes and mythic gods....... The Red Roster of Death!!!!!!!


I have some other things to talk about so lets get it rolling. First I have to tell you about this awesome new Star Wars book that I have just finished reading.


Decide Your Destiny: Star Wars, The Clone Wars: The Way of The Jedi by Jake Forbes - This is a very cool chose your adventure type of book in which you start the book as a young Jedi Knight learner at the Jedi Temple. You and a friend named Jaylen, also a young Jedi Knight learner, are summoned to see Master Yoda and from there your adventure can go in many directions depending on the choices you make. I read this book through twice with each ending being very different. In one I made a very bad decision and was captured by the Separatist and put into an arena to be feed to wild beast. In another I saved a bunch of Wookies from being sold into slavery and made a member of their tribe. This is a very cool book and I highly recommend it to both Star Wars fans and fans of chose your adventure type books. Now they need to make one for us Sith. Yea, that would be way cool!!!!! Anyway, definitely give this one a try.





Lastly I want to talk about this really cool contest that is coming up that will be nationwide (and even in parts of Canada)!!!!! It's called Storytubes and here is a little information about it:

• Would you like to be the star of your very own movie? Well the nationwide Storytube Contest will let you do this by creating an online video talking about your favorite book. The Storytube Contest is open to students in grades kindergarten through twelfth grade. Video entries consist of either one student promoting one book to group efforts consisting of 2 to 5 students promoting one book submitted to the Storytubes Web Site. To enter, the contestant must upload the video to YouTube or TeacherTube and submit the correct corresponding StoryTubes Contest Entry Form. Partner libraries will work together to select entries to receive Judges’ Choice Awards and pick videos to go to online voting at the Storytubes Web Site for popular voting. For both the Judges’ Choice Awards and Popular Online Voting, at least one award will be reserved for each entry category. These categories are as follows: Grades K - 4, Grades 5 - 8, Grades 9 - 12 and Group Enteries. Judges’ Choice Awards will be announced by March 9, 2009. Online voting for videos chosen to proceed to popular voting will be held on the Storytubes Web Site as follows:

Prizes will be awarded to both winners in the Judges’ Choice Awards and the online popular voting.

Things to know:

· Make your video two minutes long (or shorter);

· Feature only one book in your video;

· Be familiar with the book and have a copy for your video so you can introduce it and tell the name of the book and its author;

· Enter as an individual or as part of a group of two to five people;

· Submit entries between January 8 and February 15, 2009, but you can start working on them earlier;

· Go to the Storytubes Web Site and get more information at: http://www.storytubes.info.

· Be creative!

The Spangler Library at ImaginOn will be having Information Sessions on the Storytubes Competition on December 20 and December 29 at 12:30 and 1:30 p.m. for anyone wishing to learn more. If you have any questions about these upcoming Information Sessions or the Storytubes Competition in general, please call Darth Bill at 704-973-2720.

Can you guide Mr. Basketball threw the Sith Basketball Backboard of Terror? Probably, I'm pretty sure (I think I did, or maybe I cheated) you might.
Yes it is I once again, the man of many names. Captain/Darth/007/Ninja/No More Mr. Nice Guy Bill welcomes and thanks you for visiting the blog (Aaaarrrrrrhhhhhhh!!!!!!!). Well the voting for the Boys Rule Boys Read Book Series Tournament has been fast and furious. If you have not voted, as a reminder, you have until April 7th, Monday at 9:00 p.m. to get your votes in. Also keep shooting those 3 pointers. I have a feeling they may have a serious impact on who comes in the top three places of our little contest. I can feel it in me bones, I tell ya!!!!!

Just got the following vote cast by Mace Windu (those darn Jedi):

Harry Potter
Narnia

Har, Har, Har, it will be interesting indeed to see who are the two last books standing to compete for the Championship.

One other contest I would like to mention on this blog is the StoryTubes competition that is going on nationwide.




Rather than me just blab away about the contest, check out the following press release:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Public libraries partner in national online video contest:
StoryTubes encourages kids to talk up their favorite books on YouTube

April 3, 2008 (Charlotte, N.C.) – From New York to California to North Carolina, kids in grades 1-6 are talking up their favorite books in an online video contest that supports public libraries, including the Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenburg County (PLCMC). The contest, which runs through April 20, 2008, is called StoryTubes, and your children can join in the fun, too!

Along with your parent or guardian, kids can follow these simple steps to participate:
1. Make a 2-minute or shorter video about your favorite book;
2. Upload the video to www.youtube.com; and
3. Click on www.storytubes.info and send in the link to your uploaded YouTube video using the online contest entry form.

There are four video categories: Hair-Raising Tales; From or For the Heart; Of Heroes and Heroines; and Facts, Fads and Phenoms. When entering, please don’t use your last name in the video. Entries will be evaluated on creativity, content and performance. Parents are encouraged to read the complete contest rules and regulations at www.storytubes.info/rules.

The video becomes part of a national contest!

The deadlines for entries is April 20, 2008. Voting mania will happen each week in May. At the end of each week, one lucky contestant will win $500 in books. The sponsoring organization they choose (school, library or designated organization for home-schooled youth) will receive $1,000 in books.

Bill Corder, a children’s librarian at PLCMC’s ImaginOn is excited about the project. “It’s so much fun to see kids having a blast creating these videos. They get to talk about their favorite books and have their 15 minutes of fame on YouTube. And they have a chance to win a prize. It’s really cool!”

Want help creating your video?
Kids and parents can come to ImaginOn’s Spangler Library on the following dates and times. Library staff will be on hand with all the equipment needed to help create your video.
- Monday, April 7 from 11 - 1 p.m.
- Tuesday, April 8, from 11 - 1 p.m.
- Wednesday, April 9 from 2 - 4 p.m.
- Friday, April 18 from 7- 9 p.m. (during the “Red Read Party” at ImaginOn)
For questions about the video sessions at ImaginOn, call 704-973-2720.

Everybody wins when kids get excited about stories!

Sponsoring publishers are: Simon & Schuster, Scholastic, Eaglemont Press, DK Publishing, Charlesbridge Publishing and Shenanigan Books.

The StoryTubes partner libraries are: Northeast: Middle Country Public Library of Centereach; NY; Southeast: The Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenburg County/ImaginOn, Charlotte, NC; Midwest: Gail Borden Public Library, Elgin, IL; Northwest: King County Library System, Issaquah, WA; and Southwest: Pasadena Public Library, Pasadena, CA.

Sounds pretty cool to me. You get to be a star on YouTube and could win $500 worth of books!!!! Man I wish I could compete, but alas I'm not quite in the age range (I'm in the 7th grade; okay not really I'm in the 8th(; ). So guys (and maybe some girls) look into this and remember we will be videoing people here at ImaginOn!!!!

Lastly I would like to talk about some really cool books I have read recently:

Marvel Adventures: Fantastic Four – All 4 One, 4 For All by Zeb Wells and Kano – The Fantastic Four are back and better than ever!!!!! This graphic novel includes four stories that concentrate on each of our heroes. The first story focuses on everyone’s favorite rock guy The Thing. The Thing and a new friend learn the hard way that true beauty lays beyond one’s outside appearance while battling The Absorbing Man. The second story takes a look at The Invisible Woman. Susan Storm is beginning to feel that she is taken for granted by her teammates. So when Nick Fury approaches her about being a spy for the Government, she faces a dilemma in whether to stay with the FF or leave. The third story puts Mister Fantastic in the cross-hairs of Arcade and along with trying to stay alive; he learns that life is about more than numbers and calculations. The last story pits The Human Torch against Iceman (of the X-Men) as they are co-judges in the Miss Teeny Teen Pageant. Things go from bad to funny as these two guys try to one up the other (funny stuff). This is a fun read, so check it out!!!!!

The Midnight Library: I Can See You by Damien Graves – If you like scary stories, and I mean scary stories, this series is just wicked!!!!! The first story in this book is about Michael who along with his parents has relocated from the city to the country. Michael has trouble making friends, but finally seems to have made some in Stephanie and Jack. They tell him about the house he has moved in which once belonged to old Farmer Axby whose wife and children left him. Farmer Axby eventually went mad and the last time he was seen alive he was out in the fields with an old lantern looking for his children. The whole time screaming: “I can see you!” Well, he must have fallen sometime in the night because there was a massive fire and the only remains of Farmer Axby that were found were his broken lantern and the remains of his burnt coat. Ever since that night the kids in the area play a game on the anniversary of the fire called I Can See You. Stephanie and Jack invite Michael to play this year and he agrees. Maybe that was not the wisest of decisions? This is some super spooky stuff and if you like this story you will love the other two in the book. A word of warning however, these stories do not always have happy endings and, perhaps, could cause nightmares. If you like real scary stories this series and book are for you.

Tunnels by Roderick Gordon and Brian Williams – This book rocked and I absolutely cannot wait for the sequel. The main character of the book is 14-year-old Will Burrows who along
with his archaeologist father, Dr. Burrows, shares a passion for digging tunnels into the earth in search of buried historical items. Will’s family is extremely “different” and to say the least dysfunctional. His father is always involved with his work and little else, his mother watches TV non-stop, and his younger sister runs the families finances. Will is an extremely pale boy and picked on non-stop at school. That is until he befriends another outcast by the name of Chester, who is a rather large intimidating boy, and
gets him interested in digging. Life is going pretty good for Will between digging with his father and digging independently with his new friend Chester. That is until Dr. Burrows goes missing and Will finds that right in their basement is a tunnel that leads to a subterranean world populated with people time left behind. This book is full of twist and turns and just when you think you know what’s going on, the book kicks into another gear to throw you for a loop. I would classify this book as a mystery/action book. Whatever you want to classify it as is up to you, just make sure you don’t miss one of the truly great books of 2008!!!!!

One last note, I want to say it is so good to see so many Sith posting lately! It really warms my black little heart so much.

Well take it easy all you out there in Blogland (and remember to get your votes in along with 3 pointers). Peace,

Bill