Readergirlz: May Issue

The May issue is now available at Readergirlz. This month's topic is Honor, and the featured book is Shannon Hale's Book of a Thousand Days. The issue includes a fun list of facts about Shannon Hale (like "I have a life-size cutout of Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy in my bedroom"), a while you read playlist, book party suggestions, discussion questions, and suggested companion reads from the Postergirlz (including Mitali Perkins' Monsoon Summer, which is one of my favorites). The featured community outreach program for the month is the Asian Task Force Against Domestic Violence.

Next month, in a perfect selection for June, the Readergirlz will be discussing Laurie Halse Anderson's Prom (that's her book Prom, not her personal experiences with proms, though if I know the Readergirlz, and I do, that will come up, too). You can also find links to a complete archive of the Readergirlz issues at Little Willow's blog, Bildungsroman.

Kudos to the Readergirlz Divas, and all of the other participants, for the huge success of the recent Readergirlz Operation Teen Book Drop. The Readergirlz Divas sent out this thank you message:

A shout out to all you readergirlz for joining us, YALSA, and publishers for making Operation Teen Book Drop a success on April 17! We dropped more than 10,000 books into the best pediatric hospitals in the U.S. and Canada. Well over 10,000 hospitalized teens will find solace in these donated stories.

In case you missed Operation TBD, you can read about it in Publishers Weekly, School Library Journal, and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

Go Readergirlz! Although I'm no longer working as a Postergirl (due to focusing more on literacy for a broad range of kids), I'm so proud to have been associated with them, and inspired by their continued efforts.