I'm thrilled to announce an upcoming blog tour that I think is really going to make a difference: the Share a Story - Shape a Future Literacy Blog Tour. This literacy blog tour is the brainchild of Terry Doherty from The Reading Tub (my partner in the weekly Children's Literacy Roundups). It was assembled with remarkable speed and enthusiasm through the efforts of Terry, Sarah Mulhern, Susan Stephenson, Eva Mitnick, and Elizabeth O. Dulemba (links to their blogs below). The tremendous response to my blog post about encouraging read-aloud was a partial catalyst for the timing of the event, and we will be sharing some take-home suggestions gleaned from those responses.
Here is the detailed announcement and schedule that Terry posted on the Share a Story - Shape a Future blog (a blog that we hope you'll add to your reading list):
Within the kidlitosphere, the children's literature bloggers comprise and reach a very broad audience. One of the group's greatest assets is its collective, community-minded approach to sharing information and ideas. Through events like blog tours, authors and illustrators have had wonderful opportunities to share their story and their craft. Given the success of tours for "producers," what about an event for and by the people who create and engage their readers: teachers, librarians, parents, and people passionate about literacy?
Voila! Share a Story - Shape a Future is just that event. This is an ensemble effort not only to celebrate reading among those of us who already love books, but to encourage each other to reach beyond ourselves and do it in a way that we are neither judging nor instructing others. This is a venue for communicating practical, useable, everyday ideas.
The event begins March 9, 2009 and lasts one week. Each day we will have a group of bloggers sharing ideas around a specific theme. There are a number of book giveaways and free downloads that will be announced by the various hosts as we get closer to the kickoff. Here is the tour schedule.
Day 1: Raising Readers
hosted by Terry Doherty at Scrub-a-Dub-Tub, the Reading Tub blogFinding Time at Home - Tricia Stohr-Hunt @ The Miss Rumphius Effect Making Time in the Classroom - Sarah Mulhern @ The Reading Zone Helping a Reader in Need (remedial readers) - Sandra Stiles guest post on Scrub-a-Dub-Tub It's Bigger than the Book: Building Strong Readers at any Age with a Daily Dose of Read Aloud - Cathy Miller interview on the Share a Story - Shape a Future blog Keeping Gifted Readers Engaged - Donalyn Miller @ The Book Whisperer Day 2: Selecting Reading Material
hosted by Sarah Mulhern at The Reading ZoneThe ABCs of Reading: Infants, Toddlers & Preschoolers - Valerie Baartz on The Almost Librarian How to Help Emerging Readers - Anastasia Suen Helping Middle Grade Readers - Sarah Mulhern @ The Reading Zone Booklists and Read Alikes - Sarah Mulhern @ The Reading Zone Using Non-fiction - Mary Lee Hahn of A Year of Reading, hosted by the Stenhouse blog
Day 3: Reading Aloud - It's Fun, It's Easy
hosted by Susan Stephenson at the Book Chook blogTen Terrific Tips from Read-aloud Queen, Mem Fox - on the Book Chook blog Conquering Stage Fright - Interview with Sarah Mulhern/The Reading Zone @ the Book Chook Reading Aloud With Kids: A Dad's Perspective - hosted by Steven and Brian at Book Dads: Fathers that Read Using Technology for Read Alouds - Sarah Mulhern @ The Reading Zone What to Do When the Reading is Done - Aimee Buckner, hosted by the Stenhouse blog Reading Aloud with Independent Readers - Donalyn Miller @ The Book Whisperer Day 4: A Visit to the Library
hosted by Eva Mitnick at Eva's Book Addiction blogFrom Cozy to Cool - Library Spaces for Everyone - Eva @ Eva's Book Addiction Lions and Marble and Books, Oh My - Betsy Bird at A Fuse #8 Production How to Make the Library Work for YOU - an interview with Adrienne of What Adrienne Thinks About That conducted by Jules at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast The World Beyond the Library's Walls - Melissa @ Librarian by Day Day 5: Technology and Reading - What the Future Holds
is hosted by Elizabeth O. Dulemba at Dulemba.comAudiobooks with Bruce Coville of Full Cast Audio and Mary Burkey of Audiobooker E-books with Harold Underdown of The Purple Crayon and Sheila Ruth of Hornbook Podcasts with Andrea Ross of Just One More Book! and Cheryl Rainfield of cherylrainfield.com A resource of links to audiobooks, e-books, podcasts and webcasts @ Dulemba.com. Through Share a Story - Shape a Future we hope to build a community of readers, by sharing ideas and encouraging each other. When the event opens on Monday, March 9, 2009, there will be plenty of opportunities for you to join us and share your ideas.
In the meantime, we'd love for you to start spreading the word.
Huge thank yous to Elizabeth O. Dulemba (the image at the top) and Susan Stephenson (the image in the middle) for creating images we can use to promote Share a Story - Shape a Future!
As you can see, I'm not actually on the schedule for this event. But I'll be taking on a similar role to my Literacy Evangelist role for the Cybils - promoting the event and helping behind the scenes. You may be sure that this literacy blog tour has my complete support. I'm in awe of Terry, Elizabeth, Eva, Susan, and Sarah, and all of the other contributors that they have lined up. I find it so heartening to see all of these people out there championing children's literacy.
Stay tuned for further updates about the Share a Story - Shape a Future Literacy blog tour. It's going to be amazing!
It is going to be fun! We can't thank you enough for all your help in spreading the word, getting all of us excited about reading, and the incomparable behind-the-scenes advice!
Posted by: Terry | February 25, 2009 at 11:40 AM
I'm just sorry I couldn't do more, Terry. It's going to be amazing!!
Posted by: Jen Robinson | February 25, 2009 at 12:43 PM
I will help by spreading the word in my blog! This is going to be a awesome blog event! Fantastic!
Posted by: stella | February 26, 2009 at 03:17 AM
Jen, this is an incredible lineup. There are many topics that I am passionate about. I look forward to reading everyone's posts and gathering ideas!
Posted by: Paige Y. | February 26, 2009 at 03:33 AM
I'm excited to take a little part in this! So great that it's grown bigger than just reading aloud.
Posted by: Mary Lee | February 26, 2009 at 06:07 AM
Thanks so much for the feedback, Stella and Paige! And for helping to spread the word. Mary Lee, I'm glad that you are participating. And I know that Franki is glad that it's about more than read-aloud, too.
Posted by: Jen Robinson | February 26, 2009 at 11:50 AM
I totally stole your post, Jen.
Posted by: Aerin | February 26, 2009 at 05:27 PM
What an honor to be included in this wonderful event. I cannot wait to read all of the posts. Wow! What a line-up.
Posted by: Donalyn Miller | February 26, 2009 at 06:13 PM
In this situation, Aerin, feel free to steal away. Thanks for helping to spread the word!
And Donalyn, I'm thrilled that you're part of the line-up for the tour. It's going to be amazing. And good timing with the release of your book, too.
Posted by: Jen Robinson | February 26, 2009 at 09:52 PM
This is going to be so fantastic - we'll definitely help spread the word.
Jen, it's probably flitted your way already but we're passing on a Butterfly Award to you...
http://www.papertigers.org/wordpress/butterfly-award/
Posted by: Marjorie | February 27, 2009 at 02:26 AM
I recently came across your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I don't know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.
Posted by: Sarah | March 24, 2009 at 05:55 AM
Thanks for visiting, Sarah. I love it when people take time to comment. I'm so glad that you like my blog! And I'm happy that you plan on visiting again.
Posted by: Jen Robinson | March 24, 2009 at 06:33 AM