Do you know how to exercise your brain? By reading, of course!
First Book has teamed up with WWE to promote the importance of reading through the WWE Wrestlemania Reading Challenge. WWE Superstars and Divas are on the road visiting schools and showing kids throughout the country the power and strength of being a reader.
Just last week, WWE’s Jimmy and Jey Uso visited Johnson Elementary School in Denver, Colorado to share the joy of reading. Check out the video below to see their fun-filled visit.
The post Creating Strong Readers with the Wrestlemania Reading Challenge appeared first on First Book Blog.
Save $10 on next Thursday’s webinar If you register for YALSA’s Risky Business webinar by July 14, , taking place next Thursday at 2 p.m. Eastern, you’ll save $10 over normal registration rates. That means the webinar is just $29 for individual YALSA members and $39 for all other individuals. Register today at www.ala.org/yalsa/webinars.
WrestleMania: We’ve made the Challenge shorter and simple. The WrestleMania Reading Challenge has changed this year to take place during just one week, making it simpler for you and your teens and tweens to particpate. Registering automatically enters you into a drawing for one of five sets of books from Penguin — and it gives teens and tweens at your library the chance to win tickets to WrestleMania and $2,000 for your library. It’s a surefire way to get new YA readers into your library. Don’t believe us? Then find out what happened at Bambi Mansfield’s library. Register today at www.ala.org/wrestlemania.
Win cold, hard cash from YALSA. Do you have an idea to make YALSA’s awards and booklists into household names, ensure young adult and school librarians have access to important research, help YALSA better advocate for quality library services for every teen in every library, develop continuing education or career services that librarians need or engage YALSA’s current membership and recruit new members? Of course you do. Well, YALSA will pay you $250 for that great idea (and YALSA committees are eligible to submit an idea, too). But you have to submit your idea to the Great Ideas contest by July 15.
New Books from YALSA Now available in the ALA Online Store: Risky Business: Taking and Managing Risks in Library Services to Teens by Linda Braun, Hillias J. Martin, and Connie Urquhart and Multicultural Programs for Tweens and Teens, edited by Linda B. Alexander and Nahyun Kwon. Order your copy today!
After the jump, find out how you can win FREE BOOKS simply by registering for Teen Read Week, be a 2011 YALSA Emerging Leader, and more!
Want to win free books? Sign up for Teen Read Week If you haven’t already, register for Teen Read Week In addition to showing YALSA that you support this program — which encourage teens to read for fun — there are major benefits to doing so.
When you register for Teen Read Week, you’re automatically enrolled in a contest to win a collection of titles from Cinco Puntos, 25 manga titles from Viz Media, and a full set of the Fall 2010 launch list from Carolrhoda Lab. Register today!
Apply to Be a 2011 Emerging Leader YALSA will sponsor t
Summer Course Registration Ends Tuesday Registration ends July 6 – that’s Tuesday – for YALSA’s summer online course, Power Up with Print! Instructor Jamie Watson will show participants how to boost the library’s circulation through the development of teen-centered programs, material evaluation and selection, booktalks and more, as well as discuss the latest trends in YA lit. Course registration now open at www.ala.org/yalsa/onlinecourses. Courses cost $135 for YALSA members, $175 for ALA members, and $195 for nonmembers and will take place July 12 to August 9.
Congrats to YALSA’s Newest Spectrum Scholar! Congratulations are in order for Hoan-Vu Do, YALSA’s 2010-2011 Spectrum Scholar. Do will attend San Jose State University’s School of Library and Information Science.
WrestleMania Reading Challenge Registration You only have 30 days to register for the 2010-2011 Challenge! Remember, the Challenge has changed this year to take place during just one week, making it simpler for you and your teens and tweens to particpate. Registering automatically enters you into a drawing for one of five sets of books from Penguin — and it gives teens and tweens at your library the chance to win tickets to WrestleMania and $2,000 for your library. Register today at www.ala.org/wrestlemania.
Register for our July webinar! Registration is open for YALSA’s July webinar! Our July 15 webinar (Risky Business, hosted by Linda Braun) offers participants insights into effectively taking risks to manage and improve services to teens at your library. This in-depth, one-hour webinar will be held at 2 p.m. Eastern. Registration costs $39 for individual YALSA members, $49 for all other individuals. A group rate of $195 is available. Learn more (and find out details on our August and September webinars) at www.ala.org/yalsa/webinars.
After the jump, see how to win $250 from YALSA for your Great Idea, how you can get a free copy of Excellence in Library Services to Young Adults, 4th edition; how to win books simply by registering for Teen Read Week (it’s free!); who’s speaking at the Bill Morris Memorial Author Luncheon at the YA Lit Symposium, and how you can be a 2011 Emerging Leader!
Win $250 from YALSA for Your Great Idea We’ve extended the application for YALSA’s Great Ideas contest to July 15, 2010! YALSA needs your Great Ideas – and you could win $250 in cash! We’re looking for creative help from you to help YALSA achieve its goals. Download an application at the Great Ideas webapage and send your questions to Sarajo Wentling at [email protected].
Free Book Offer! For a limited time only at the
Registration for the 2009-2010 WrestleMania Reading Challenge will close July 31 —teens and tweens at your library could win a trip to WrestleMania XXVI in Phoenix, and you could win $2,000 for your library! Just complete Teen Read Week™ registration at www.ala.org/teenread and say “yes” to the WrestleMania Reading Challenge by July 31. .
The WrestleMania Reading Challenge, sponsored by YALSA and World Wrestling Entertainment, encourages teens and tweens in grades 5-12 to read one item a week for 10 weeks, starting in January. Teens and tweens can win prizes and incentives from WWE, including the chance to compete in the national WrestleMania Reading Challenge championships to win ringside tickets to WrestleMania XXVI in Phoenix in March. The sponsoring library of each finalist wins $2,000. Details on the 2010 challenge are available on YALSA’s website. After the jump, find out how students can win a trip to WrestleMania this year and read about the experiences of last year’s finalists.
Teens and tweens who want to win the trip to WrestleMania will go to the participating school or public library, check out and read a combined total of ten books, graphic novels and magazines, complete a log sheet, available from your librarian, indicating the name and author of the books, graphic novels and magazines read, and design a bookmark which includes a slogan that promotes reading. The slogan may be written in either English or Spanish. The bookmark and slogan will be judged based on the following objective criteria: (a) impact of the slogan; (b) originality of the design; (c) relevance of the graphics and images to the slogan; and (d) overall visual appeal.
Students are divided into three grade levels (5-6, 7-8, and 9-12) for judging. Based on the submitted reviews, a national judging committee of YALSA members will select five finalists from each grade level to attend the championships. Whichever finalist from each grade levels answers the most correct questions about their required book will win ringside seats. Author Will Weaver will judge the championship round. Weaver’s appearance is courtesy of Farrar, Straus & Giroux Books for Young Readers and Square Fish, imprints of Macmillan Publishing Group.
Looking for more info? Some of last year’s finalists talked to Lori Gruenthal, chair of YALSA’s WrestleMania Reading Challenge Jury, about their experiences.
Paula Brehm-Heeger, a past YALSA president, met with several of the winners, including Stephanie Diaz, Karolina Flores, Angelica Kruth, and Marissa Braun, at Wrestlemania 25 in Houston. They all admitted to being fans of WWE when they entered the contest. As one of them noted, “first my friend entered and when I heard about how you can get a trip, I thought it was a hoax or something. But then when it was true, I said, ‘hot dog - I’m doing it.’”
Stephanie, Karolina, and Marissa saw posters at their library and asked the librarian for details about the contest. Marissa’s librarian told her to enter “because you like drawing stuff and you like wrestling.” As it turns out, each teen had an artistic background. Karolina was inspired by her personal experience. She told Paula, “I am a second degree black belt in tae kwon do. I wrote my text in English and Spanish since my family is from Mexico. The English side has a tae kwon do dude. On the Spanish side, I did a little girl baking because I am interested in cooking too.”
Angelica was inspired by her description of reading, “as the key to the present, past, and future.” Marissa brainstormed ideas. She says, “I bounced a couple slogans off of friends and cousins and picked the best one and then just sort of put the pictures to words.” Each bookmark was unique and creative regardless of how they came about their design.
The teens each recommended entering this year’s contest and had positive remarks to share. Stephanie said, “If you’re really interested in something just go for it and do what you have to do.” Karolina said she got a lot out of the experience. She enjoyed “going other places,” and discovering vocabulary words and different authors. Marissa enthusiastically added, “You get to meet a lot of wrestlers and of course there’s always the two tickets to Wrestlemania — awesome!”
Angelica revealed she was “never a fan of reading.” She said, “School just deteriorated my whole interest in reading. When I heard about the contest, I thought I’ll give it a try. It is 10 books. When I actually read the mission of the program, to get kids who aren’t really interested in reading to read, I knew I would be the perfect candidate for that. It was the first time I actually enjoyed reading. Now when I get a book or assignment, I think I’ll give it a shot.”
