I'm pleased to report that Carol Rasco from RIF will be officially joining Terry Doherty (from The Reading Tub) and me in our regular Children's Literacy and Reading News Roundups going forward. Carol took over for me during my recent maternity leave, and she brought such a valuable perspective that Terry and I simply couldn't let her off the hook, even after I came back. So, I'll be posting at the beginning, Terry in the middle, and Carol near the end of each month.
Carol shared a great roundup earlier this week, looking back on recent events, and looking forward at others. She included some notes on KidLitCon, the Future of Reading, and Sesame Street’s position as a hit of the internet for all ages.
Carol also pointed out something important that Terry's been doing this week, building up to Halloween with some scary statistics on illiteracy (starting here and finishing here). If you can spare some time from costumes and decorations, please do take a moment to check out these posts.
Speaking of Halloween, my friend Maria sent me a link to Books for Treats, a local (Willow Glen) program that promotes giving gently-read books to trick-or-treaters. Here's the scoop:
"Since Halloween 2001, we’ve given up to 6500 books each year to excited, costumed Willow Glen trick-or-treaters. Now-former Mayor Ron Gonzales, now-former Councilman Ken Yeager, Mayor Chuck Reed and Councilman Pierluigi Oliverio joined us in greeting the kids and happy parents. We are supported by the Diabetes Association."
I love that! Wishing you all books AND treats this Halloween weekend. Let's do what we can, house by house, child by child, to make Terry's scary statistics on illiteracy a little less scary next year.
(And for those wondering, Baby Bookworm is going to be a bunny this year - that's one of her many nicknames. Perhaps next year we can come up with a literary character for her.)
Thanks so much for mentioning our Books For Treats program! Our motto is "Feed kids' minds, not their cavities. Give them brain candy." We gave out nearly 4000 books yesterday during the Willow Glen trick-or-treating event. We'd love to have more books to give out to other neighborhoods next year.
If you're interested in giving gently read books to your trick-or-treaters, we've recently updated our free downloadable kit explaining how to do so. It's at our site.
Rebecca Morgan
Founder, Books For Treats
www.BooksForTreats.org
Posted by: Rebecca Morgan | October 30, 2010 at 02:47 PM
Congratulations and welcome to Carol!
Posted by: Michelle | October 31, 2010 at 09:52 AM