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You are currently browsing the First Book Blog weblog archives for July, 2006.
Archive for July 2006
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Happy Birthday, Mrs. Potter!
July 31st, 2006
Jen W.
Leave a Comment »One of my favorite bookish links on the Web is The Writer’s Almanac, an archive of a radio show hosted by none other than Mr. Lake Wobegone himself, Garrison Keillor. From today’s show:
It’s the birthday of the novelist J K (Joanne Kathleen) Rowling, born on the outskirts of Bristol, England (1966). In school, Rowling often entertained the other children at lunch by telling stories in which all of her friends performed heroic and daring deeds. Her parents encouraged her to study French in college so that she could get a job as a bilingual secretary, but she found that she hated secretarial work. Instead of taking notes in the meetings, she daydreamed and wrote possible names for fictional characters in the margins of her notebooks.
The full story is on The Writer’s Almanac website, where you can listen to the audio recording or read a transcript.
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South Bay LA Speed Read a Tremendous Success!
July 31st, 2006
Elena B.
Leave a Comment »Congratulations to First Book-South Bay LA, California for their tremendous success with last Tuesday’s Speed Read! Helen Coffey, Advisory Board Chair Extraordinaire, worked her magic and pulled together an amazing event.
With the help of local firemen, Coast Guard from Terminal Island, an author, an illustrator, a Borders bookstore, and other members of the community, the invited guests from the Boys & Girls Club Harbor City had a really fun time.
Local literacy hero and realtor Eric Randall served as the Master of the Ceremony, which took place in a retail space provided courtesy of The Avenue of the Peninsula. Helen tells us that the children were shy at first, but before long, they were jumping at the chance to read Green Eggs and Ham and Snow. Many children even read more than once!
Making the event even more special, Steve Gray, an illustrator, and Bernadette Shih, an author and Advisory Board member, signed copies of their books for the children and encouraged everyone to keep on reading.
To all of the readers, attendees, and supporters — thank you! This event raised money for more than 2,200 books and made many new friends! Yet another success for Helen and all of our wonderful Board members in South Bay, LA.
Don’t know what a Speed Read is? You can watch a video of a previous Speed Read to see it for yourself!
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The Kindness of Strangers
July 28th, 2006
Elizabeth M.
2 Comments »I was waiting in the O’Hare airport, returning from a weekend in Chicago with my childhood girlfriends, heading back to Washington, DC. Per usual, I had an armful of magazines and books to keep me entertained during the flight.
I struck up a conversation while waiting to board the plane with two young men also returning to DC. Their eyes lit up as they noticed I had Running with Scissors by Augusten Burroughs at the top of my stack. We compared notes on the hilarious lines and stories sprinkled throughout the memoir.
Then one of the guys reached into his backpack and said, “Here you go, I just finished it. It’s great — you have to read it.” He handed me his copy of Burroughs’ sequel, Dry. He had left his copy at home and bought a second to read during his trip.
What an amazing gesture by a complete stranger. So next time I’m traveling — or at home — I’m going to make someone’s day by handing them a great book to read. One more way to make the world a better place…
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Science Bloggers’ Favorite Childrens Books
July 28th, 2006
Dave M.
Leave a Comment »Browsing the web, I came upon this:
Are there any children’s books that are dear to you, either as a child or a parent, and especially ones that perhaps strike a chord with those from a science sensibility? Just curious really. And it doesn’t have to be a picture book, doesn’t even have to be a children’s book - just a book that, for whatever reason, worked for you.
The trick, of course, is that this question has been posted on the science blog, World’s Fair. World’s Fair actually has a few various posts about childrens’ books during their children’s book review week. It is some really interesting reading coming from a crowd that you wouldn’t normally ask about children’s literature.
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The Fortress of Illiteracy
July 27th, 2006
Erin T.
Leave a Comment »This Sunday as my summer vacation to Ukraine was coming to an end, I was exploring the old quarters of the eclectic city of Kyiv. As I wandered through the neighborhoods I marveled at a city caught somewhere between ancient splendor, modern Europe, and its Soviet past. As I meandered past a McDonald’s, through a park with a statue of Lenin, and under the shadow of austere apartment buildings, I came upon a first-century monastery.
As I entered the high gate and climbed the treacherous stairs, I was reminded how far civilization has come from the days when this monastery was built. This fortress with its high walls and deep catacombs was built, among other things, to be a center of learning, and within its walls scholars copied books painstakingly by hand. Later in its history, its walls protected these priceless pieces of scripture and literature from attack and plunder, time and time again, as late as the Nazi invasion of Kyiv in 1941.
We have come a long way since the days when books were only for the wealthy, powerful and male. However, I couldn’t help but think that there is still a wall keeping too many people, especially children, from books and reading. Maybe someday others will examine First Book and our society and say that we were the era that finally brought down the fortress defenses of illiteracy by giving a child a book.
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Support First Book in Blogathon 2006 - This Weekend!
July 26th, 2006
Clarissa P.
Leave a Comment »
In case you missed our post earlier this month and don’t know what a blogathon is, it’s similar to a marathon, except instead of running, everybody is blogging! Participants in Blogathon 2006 raise money for charity by blogging for 24 hours in a row, all at the same time, beginning this Saturday, July 29.Each blogger asks people to sponsor his or her blog. The sponsors pledge to donate a certain dollar amount to the blogger’s chosen charity, either a flat donation, or an amount per hour of blogging.
First Book is a “Suggested Charity” for Blogathon this year, and we have 12 bloggers raising money for us!
Please support First Book by going to the list of bloggers (search for “First Book” to find the ones that are raising money for us) and sponsoring one of them! At the end of the Blogathon you will be directed to First Book’s website to make your donation. Don’t forget that donations to First Book are tax-deductible if you’re in the United States.
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Advisory Board Successful Strategies
July 26th, 2006
Nicole T.
1 Comment »An easy way to reach out to Recipient Groups!
This is the first in a series of blog posts about “Successful Strategies” for First Book Advisory Boards.
We often get questions from Advisory Boards about how to notify new recipient groups that they are accepting book grant applications. Here’s a great idea submitted by First Book-Montgomery County, MD. First Book-Montgomery County wrote a press release using the template provided on the Advisory Board Online Resource Center. A personal quote from a board member was added to encourage the community to continue to support local fundraising efforts so they can reach all of the county’s neediest children.
First Book-Montgomery County, MD sent the press release to two newspapers and the community volunteer center. The board received over 35 inquiries about the book grant application from diverse recipient groups including homeless shelters, faith-based tutoring programs, and community programs from all areas of the county. The board is excited to complete their grant application cycle and begin getting books to the children in these programs.
If you’re interested in learning more about First Book Advisory Boards, please see our website to join an existing Advisory Board or start one in your area.
We would love to hear fom you. Please share your creative and entrepreneurial ideas to fundraising, networking, board recruiting, etc. etc. etc.
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About the Political Dr. Seuss
July 25th, 2006
Clarissa P.
Leave a Comment »Last week I went to a screening of the documentary film The Political Dr. Seuss. Many people don’t realize that besides being one of the world’s most beloved children’s authors, Theodor Geisel (Dr. Seuss) was very political, promoting environmentalism and literacy, and working against racism and anti-semitism.
At the start of World War II, Geisel drew political cartoons for the New York City newspaper PM, with cartoons opposing Hitler and fascism. In 1943 he joined the army (at age 38) and was part of Frank Capra’s Signal Corps, a special unit based in Hollywood that made films for the US Armed Forces — everything from propaganda films telling the troops not to trust German civilians, to training films explaining to soldiers why they needed to change their underwear regularly.
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What books motivate you?
July 20th, 2006
Chandler A.
Leave a Comment »One of my favorite sites is Social Edge, a program of the Skoll Foundation that was inspired by Jeff Skoll’s commitment to connecting people with shared passions. The Social Edge site was launched in June 2003 with the mission to: A) connect social entrepreneurs, their partners and allies to discuss cutting-edge issues shaping the field; B) foster frank dialogue, mutual respect and a sense of community among all in the sector; and C) promote learning from the best, promising, and disastrous practices.
This week Social Edge is asking its readers to participate in a discussion about their favorite books. According to the site, these books don’t have to be about social entrepreneurship, business, or even philanthropy — you can talk about inspiring biographies, books that describe a particular global or local problem, books on communication, textbooks, history books, even works of fiction. What better discussion for those of us working to change the world by distributing books to be a part of?
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Literacy & Justice for All Success
July 19th, 2006
Kelly S
Leave a Comment »We officially distributed 57,462 books to the state of Louisiana to fulfill our promise that 50,000 books would be dedicated to the state as a result of winning the Literacy & Justice for All campaign. Rachael V., Rachel S. and I were on hand in New Orleans to distribute these books — along with an additional 50,000 books that were sent to programs across the country.
Our pals at the U.S. Coast Guard were phenomenal to work with once again. In addition to being great to work with, they were wonderful to our team. In fact, we went to a shrimp boil with Lieutenant Will Budovec and his family! Will was also kind enough to take us around the city to show us the destruction that still plagues the city almost a year later — it was unbelievable. Also, we made an important new contact with the Coast Guard. Pat Flynn is an Executive Officer at the ISC New Orleans facility and a huge supporter of First Book — we plan to cultivate this relationship and involve him whenever appropriate.
We had eight amazing Hands On volunteers on site to load cars, and fill orders. They were essential to getting the job done!
Finally, the CBS affiliate from New Orleans sent a camera person to film footage of pick-ups and the warehouse site. I believe it was scheduled to air the evening of July 13th.
Overall, a huge success, and a final delivery on the Literacy & Justice for All campaign!