SWEET ON BOOKS BLOG

A New Harry Potter Book?

Set your DVRs...JK Rowling will be on Oprah tomorrow (Friday, Oct. 1).  Scuttlebutt is she may announce she has more Harry Potter books in her!?  Maybe, but as my partner, Melissa G., points out, that's a little like Michael Jordan's retirement.  But, tease or no tease, we would go back to Hogwarts willingly!

PLEDGE TO READ TO A CHILD AND TARGET WILL DONATE!

        In an effort to help with the educational crisis in this country, Target Corporation (or Tarjay, as it is affectionally known around our house) "has announced plans to donate more than $500 million by the end of 2015 to support education, doubling its support to-date, for a total of more than $1 billion. The financial commitment is part of Target’s new reading initiative, Target Read With MeSM, aimed at helping more U.S. children read proficiently by the end of third grade. As part of the initiative, Target also announced a reading pledge, a donation of up to 2 million books to kids in need, and plans for an innovative reading center that will reach communities across the country through a physical and virtual presence."  For the complete press release, click here.

SO what does this have to do with you?  First of all, a little round of applause for Target, a corporation who does a LOT of good.  Second of all, click here to make the plegde to commit to a regular reading schedule with a child.  

Your pledge does two great things:  it reminds you of the importance of READING with your child.  We all get real busy these days, but don't forget to do this OH SO IMPORTANT THING!  We all want success for our kids, and reading is the fastest route to that.  The second thing your pledge will do is enable Target to donate a book to a child in need.  Target partners with the lovely organization First Book in this endeavor.

So what are you waiting for!  Please get pledging!!!!

Getting Boys to Read...

There was an interesting article by Thomas Spence in the Wall Street Journal last week addressing the issue of boys and reading, or lack thereof.  The fact is, according to a recent study by the Center on Education Policy, boys score much lower on reading proficiency tests than girls do.  This trend, which began in 1992 (around the same time that video games took off), spans across all ethnic and economic groups.  So, why is this happening and more importantly, how can we reverse this trend?

According to Mr. Spence and many other reading experts, a huge part of getting boys to read well is getting them to read enough.  Now that brings us to the million dollar question - how to get boys to read enough?  

It seems that these days the basic assumption is that boys are bored with most subjects and the only way to peak their interest is to focus on all things disgusting, gross and basically inappropriate.  Apparently a July Associated Press study indicates that experts believe "meeting them where they are" is the only way to get boys to read.  Unfortunately when we meet them where they are, they sometimes don't go very far from that safety zone.

Mr. Spence proposes an alternative strategy to get boys to read more.  He suggests that we reduce the access to and time spent with video games and therefore give books - all books - a fair shot at a boy's attention. He goes on to say that this exposure to books will have a profound effect on the adults these boys will one day grow to be.  A boy who reads and acts civilized too - now that's a winning combination! 

If you click on the link below you'll see the article and then you can click through to see the many comments this topic has inspired.  Don't forget to comment back to Sweet on Books too so that we may hear where you stand on this controversial subject.

Wall Street Journal article

Barack Obama - Picture Book Author?

Barack Obama, our current President, will publish a picture book this November.  Knopf, an imprint of Random House Children's Books is the publisher.  The book, entitled Of Thee I Sing, A Letter to My Daughters, celebrates 13 great Americans.  

"In Of Thee I Sing: A Letter to My Daughters, President Obama has written a moving tribute to thirteen groundbreaking Americans and the ideals that have shaped our nation—from the artistry of Georgia O’Keeffe, to the courage of Jackie Robinson, to the patriotism of George Washington,"  Knopf states in it's press release.  

The book was apparently completed before Obama took office.  Please click here to read the press release in it's entirety.  

 

Fun Facts about Dr. Seuss!

Take a look at some interesting facts here about Dr. Seuss, aka Theodor S. Geisel, that was published on a site called Mental Floss.  We were directed to this list and cool site by our friends at Shelf Awareness.  If you are a book or publishing junkie, you need to know about Shelf Awareness, a daily e-newletter about all things books and publishing.  Click here for more info.  Cheers!