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Guest Blogger Rachael Walker is the Outreach Consultant for Reading Rockets, a national multimedia initiative which aims to inform and inspire parents, teachers, childcare providers, and others who touch the life of a child by providing comprehensive, accessible information on how to teach kids to read and help those who struggle. Rachael began her career in children’s literacy at Reading Is Fundamental (RIF), has also served as a consultant to the NEA’s Read Across America campaign, and was most recently the Executive Director of Reach Out and Read of Metro DC.

Know what today is?  Dr. Seuss’s birthday! March 2 is the day that Theodor Seuss Geisel was born in 1904 in Springfield, Massachusetts.

It’s also Read Across America Day, the National Education Association’s annual celebration for toddlers, teens and everyone in between to celebrate their literacy and language skills and the joys of reading.

Besides all the Seuss silliness, the thing that I really love about the day is that it is a day of reading for everyone.  Though the National Education Association originated and sponsors the celebration, everyone is invited to be in the company of a child and a book.

Looking for some last minute ideas to celebrate the day?

• Send a Read Across America e-card from Reading Rockets to your favorite readers and get them excited about this special day of reading
• Have some reading and writing fun with Dr. Seuss and your local newspaper
• Make the day even more meaningful with Seuss and service to others
• Get cookin’ with these Green Eggs and Ham activities
• Find great books to read, share a story online, or visit Storyline Online to watch videos featuring Screen Actor’s Guild members reading children’s books aloud

So what are you waiting for?

Spread the word, share a book

Make this campaign succeed

Give a Seuss birthday present

Help a child to read!

*Title from the Read Across America poem by NEA’s Anita Merina

by regeniabrabham www.flickr.com

Who doesn’t love Dr. Seuss? I do, and the kids do. My stepson wanted me forever to read Green Eggs and Ham to him at bedtime–even though we had tons of other books. I can say it by heart now. “That Sam I am. That Sam I am.”

My stepson had a terrible time with rhyming words for the longest time. And some people may think this is no big deal. So, a child can’t tell you a word that rhymes with goat or Sam. But the thing about rhyming words is that they teach children about patterns, sounds, and spelling. When children can recognize word patterns, pairs of letters that make certain sounds, and learn to spell these, they are on their way to becoming fluent readers and writers. So, rhyming words, in my opinion, are a big deal.

With my stepson, we used Green Eggs and Ham and The Cat in the Hat to peak his interest about rhyming words. When we used these Dr. Seuss books with the wonderful photos and loveable characters, he didn’t mind picking out the words that had -at at the end. When we tried to do a “rhyming game” in the car, he wanted no part.

My point is this. . .if you have a child who has trouble noticing or hearing rhyming words, then try Dr. Seuss with them. Get him or her engaged in a story. Put smiles on their faces. Then talk about the rhyming words in the story–even the ones that Dr. Seuss made up! If your child or your students still have smiles on their faces, then why not make a list of the words. Show them how the end of the words are spelled the same and only the beginning letter is changing.

Dr. Seuss was brilliant. Let’s use him and his books with our children to improve their literacy skills!

We asked you to share the memory of the book that got you hooked, then vote for the state to receive 50,000 new books – and you did!

We are excited to annouce the winner of this year’s What Book Got You Hooked? campaign…(drumroll please)… KENTUCKY! In early 2009, First Book will deliver 50,000 new books to programs serving children in need throughout Kentucky.

We were blown away by your response to our question. In fact, more than 250,000 votes were cast to decide the winning state in this year’s What Book Got You Hooked? campaign.  In a race that came down to the wire, West Virginia and Nebraska were out nosed by Kentucky, which cast nearly 94,000 votes.

As for the book that got readers hooked? Nancy Drew solved that case, coming in at #1 in the list of the top 50 titles. The complete list includes childhood classics like Dr. Seuss’ Green Eggs and Ham and Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House on the Prairie as well as modern favorites including the Harry Potter books by J.K. Rowling and Twilight by Stephenie Meyer. The full list of the top 50 books that got Americans hooked on reading can be viewed at www.firstbook.org/whatbook.

Although voting has concluded for our 2008 campaign, you can still make a donation to help provide brand new books to children in need as well as share your favorite books and memories year round!

Children’s Choice Book Awards
Children’s Book Council on May 13 announced this year’s winners.

2008 Summer Reading Olympics
Reading Is Fundamental provides a fun list of athletic titles sure to please even the picky readers on your list.

Ezra Jack Keats Award 2008
This award was established in 1985 to recognize new authors & illustrators in the children’s arena for picture books for children 9 & under. For past winners, click on the link above.

• THE APPLE PIE THAT PAPA BAKED by Lauren Thompson/Illustrator: Jonathan Bean
  
  LEAVES by David Ezra Stein

What Books Kids Are Reading (May 5, 2008)
The following list is provided by Renaissance Learning and based on information from their Accelerated Reader program used in schools throughout the United States. For a complete list of favorite titles per grade, click on the link above.

1-Green Eggs & Ham
2-If You Give a Mouse a Cookie
3-Charlotte’s Web
4-Tales of a 4th Grade Nothing
5-Bridge to Terabithia
6-Hatchet
7&8-The Outsiders

Theodor Seuss Geisel - Dr. Seuss was born March 2, 1904, and in honor of that historic occasion numerous events have occurred and continue this week across the country. The good doctor's 104 birthday has been celebrated with readings, parties, classroom activities, art exhibits, and the upcoming release of the latest Seuss movie, Horton Hears A Who!

The Read Across America events (March 3) used Dr. Seuss as the focus point. Here in Denver, everyone from firefighters to local authors to politicians to moms from the neighborhood read to kids from the forty-four books written and illustrated by Seuss. I had the pleasure of trying to do justice to Green Eggs and Ham (voted by the kids as the book they wanted me to read) to a classy group of first graders at Fairmont Dual Immersion Academy in the historic Baker Neighborhood. They knew the book by heart, of course, and certainly appeared delighted with the book's fast-moving tale of Sam-I-Am's persistent efforts to introduce his friend to new experiences and adventures, and the friend's reluctance to think outside the box.

Meanwhile, Librería Martínez invites everyone to a special story time performance by students of the Santa Ana High School Drama Department in celebration of Dr. Seuss's Birthday this Saturday, March 8th @ 1:00 PM. This famous bookstore is located at 1110 N. Main Street, Santa Ana, CA. 714-973-7900 for more information.



One of my all-time favorite books, a book that I still read periodically, is If I Ran The Zoo. It's a book I remember reading very early in life and it stayed with me. I memorized several passages from it's pages, back when I used to do such things, and I always thought that young Gerald McGrew was the kind of kid I'd like to meet one day.

If I Ran The Zoo is a classic study of the power of imagination. The reality presented in this book is compelling, as any child's perspective must be, but it also challenges the reader to just sit back and soak it in; for adult readers that's called suspension of disbelief; I think kids simply say it's a good book.

Young Gerald McGrew, the hero of If I Ran The Zoo, suggests that the regular old zoo, although "pretty good," could use "something new."

"But if I ran the zoo,"
Said young Gerald McGrew,
"I'd make a few changes.
"That's just what I'd do. . ."

Who hasn't entertained such thoughts on any gray day when everything is too ordinary and boring? And what changes! No "old-fashioned" lions and tigers. In fact, Gerald would open the cages and let the animals go. Then the fun begins. From one strange land to another: Zomba-ma-Tant and Motta-fa-Potta-fa-Pell and the Far Western part of south-east North Dakota. From one very unique animal to quite another freaky beast: Joats, and Iotas, and the scraggle-foot Mulligatawny; Gussets, Gherkins, a Gasket and a Gootch. And, when required, elaborate contraptions to rein in the animals: the Cooker-mobile; the Bad-Animal-Catching-Machine ("rather expensive to build such a kit, but with it a hunter can never get bit"); and, of course, the Skeegle-mobile. As Gerald says, "If you want to catch beasts you don't see every day, you have to go places quite out-of-the-way."

It seems obvious, to me at least, that young Gerald McGrew exemplifies the writing spirit perfectly. Those of us who aspire to entertain readers with our written words often stare at old-fashioned reality and decide that it could use something new. Then, we go out and find it and bring it back for the readers who are willing to pay the admission charge and take a tour of our zoo. We introduce every strange animal we can capture, from the exotic lands that inhabit our minds, those places quite out-of-the-way, and we use extraordinary measures to bring back the catch: novels and poetry and short stories and essays and bedtime tales and scripts and blog scribbling. And then the payoff.

"WOW!" They'll all cheer,
"What this zoo must be worth!
It's the gol-darndest zoo
On the face of the earth!"

Thank you, Dr. Seuss.

Later.

Have finished two projects today. Finished a final tightening of a midgrade novel which I had tightened many times before. This time, though, I’ve been reading the whole thing aloud, and did pick up quite a few errors and/or clunky patches. It’s a good way to see if your work really flows. I also finished my proofing of my new nonfiction Frogs book, which is looking really good and is due out

In my last post I suggested that if you’re a writer you should seize any opportunity to attend a writer’s conference. For me, the opportunities are few and far between. I live in rural Western Australia where writers’ conferences are unheard of. Even in Perth, conferences for children’s authors are almost unheard of, and for other writing genres also quite rare. This is why the wonderful SCBWI

Having just finished the first draft of my first ever verse novel, I’ve been doing some thinking about poetry and about what makes a poem a poem. This lead me to Google for some opinions on the subject and, ultimately, to YouTube (because where else would one go to seek literary wisdom?). I like this guy’s answer to my question.

The Murphlets have gone back to school today after the long Summer holidays. I love having my kids home for the holidays, but must confess to being happy to see them back at school, so I can get more writing done. And I think they were happy to be back at school, too, or at least acceptant of the fact that they were going there. So now the house will be quiet from 9 till 3, and I should have

I’m having a thoroughly chaotic couple of weeks, mostly not writing related. School finishes in two weeks, and I’m in the midst of writing reports, rehearsing for three presentation night items, ferrying the Murphlets to various events, attending end of year functions and so on. I counted eight functions I need to attend in the next two weeks – more than I’ve been to in the whole year to date.

I have been tagged by my dear friend (and official biographer) Sally at Scribblings. I’ve never been tagged before, but since I learned to come down from the shelf and sing, I’ve learnt that trying something new is usually a good thing. So, I’ll join in.

Here’s how it works:

Link to the person that tagged you, and post the rules on your blog. Share 7 random and/or weird facts about yourself. Tag 7 random people at the end of your post, and include links to their blogs. Let each person know that they’ve been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

So here we go - 7 random facts about me:

1. My fur is a little worn on my bottom. This is from spending too long sitting all alone on my shelf.

2. I love to sing, but have yet to fulfil my ambition of appearing on Australian Idol. I went to the auditions once, but people kept picking me up and cuddling me, and pretty soon I smelt like cheap perfume and iced coffee, and I had to go home to get clean.

3. I love learning and using new words. My favourite word at the moment is perspicacious. If someone is perspicacious they are acutely perceptive or discerning. My friend Primula is perspicacious. When I was alone on my shelf she saw that, deep down, what I needed was company and for someone to believe in me.

4. My favourite book (apart from my life story, Pemberthy Bear), is Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus, by Mo Willems.

5. I once tried sky diving – in my sleep. Okay, maybe it wasn’t sky-diving, but it felt like it. See, I was asleep up on my high, high shelf, and was having a bad dream. I must have been tossing and turning in my sleep because the next thing I felt like I was flying and then WHAM I woke up on the toy room mat. Luckily I wasn’t hurt – just dreadfully embarrassed.

6. I like to write poetry, but haven’t written a new poem since the 9th of September. Oops – better get to work on a new offering.

7. This one is a little sad. I’m supposed to tag seven other people to also share their seven random facts, but I don’t KNOW seven other bloggers. And the bloggers I do know have all been tagged by Sally! So perhaps if you’re reading this, and you have a blog, you could pretend to be my friend and share your seven things. Leave a comment here and I’ll come and read them.

I have a visitor. Jacqui Grantford, illustrator extraordinaire, has dropped by myblog today as part of her Book Blog Tour to celebrate the launch of her new picture book, Squeezy Cuddle Dangly Legs. 1. Jacqui, thanks for dropping by. A Book Blog Tour might be a new concept to some of my readers. Would you like to explain it a little? Are you enjoying the experience so far? This is my very