Announcing the Share a Story - Shape a Future Literacy Blog Tour

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 blog 

Finding 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 Zone   

The 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 blog

Ten 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 blog

From 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.com  

Audiobooks 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!