The Bookaneer June 2007

THE BOOKANEER

June 1, 2007

On my adventure as the author of The Call to Shakabaz, I continue to meet terrific people who are working to make a difference in the world through the promotion of children’s literature. Let me share a few of the wonderful things I have discovered this month. And please send me your stories, resources, jokes, internet treasures, and more.

“If you want to be a millionaire publisher, start out with $2 million.” –anonymous

NEWS ABOUT THE CALL TO SHAKABAZ

According to the folks at Black Oak Books in Berkeley, California, The Call to Shakabaz was one of the top 10 children’s books sold during the month of April. It has been picked up by Follett Library Services, which will make it easier for educators to purchase copies for their schools. Legacy Audio Books in Cincinnati has approached us about making it into an audio book. Check out the wonderful voice (and African American literature offerings on audio) of Legacy owner (and opera singer) Andrew L. Barnes at www.legacyaudiobooks.com.

I will be at Carol’s Books in Sacramento as part of “Second Saturday” in June (June 9^th) and I will be visiting the public library in Ewing, New Jersey and Alphabet Soup Bookstore in Lawrenceville, New Jersey in June while on vacation. Visit www.wozabooks.com and click on Author Events for details.

Please encourage children to email me with their ideas for the sequel to The Call to Shakabaz. I am especially interested in their thoughts about how the Four can ultimately make Faracadar safe from Sissrath without killing him.

VIDEO CONTEST TO COUNTERACT DEGRADING MEDIA MESSAGES ABOUT BLACK WOMEN:

B. David Hardy at SYW Productions (www.seeyourworth.com) asked me to put the word out about their video contest to “define winning visions of inspiring Sistas” (African American women). Submissions will be accepted until July 1, 2007. For more information go to www.supersistas.com/Contest2007.aspx

RESOURCES FOR WORKING WITH RELUCTANT YOUNG READERS

Tomorrow I am moderating a discussion at Mendocino LitFest on the topic of motivating reluctant young readers to love books and to engage in reading. I have compiled a list of resources and tips to share at the discussion and am printing it below for those of you who will find it helpful for your librarianship, teaching, parenting, and reference.

Resources:

The Read-Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease

Connecting with Reluctant Teen Readers by Patrick Jones, Maureen L. Hartman, Patricia Taylor

Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) – a division of the ALA

Website: http://www.ala.org/ala/yalsa/yalsa.htm

(They sponsor a listserv that you can join for free.)

YALSA Quick Picks for Reluctant Readers (quick pick books listed for each year):

http://www.ala.org/ala/yalsa/booklistsawards/quickpicks/quickpicksreluctant.htm

Assembly for Literature on Adolescents (ALAN): http://www.alan-ya.org/

Voices of Youth Advocates (VOYA): http://www.voya.com/

(for instance, the April 2007 issue lists sci-fi and fantasy picks for teen readers)

Bob Spear at Heartland Reviews just started an online reluctant readers blog and listing of

reviews: http://www.grreatbooks.blogspot.com/

Go to the San Francisco Public Library website at www.sfpl.org and click on Teens, then follow the link to their recommended reading list.

Tips:

Ø “Speed-dating” style book discussions

Ø Book talks in stores, libraries, and classrooms and at book groups

Ø Building a binder with suggested books (what we are reading lists) to leave out in the library for students to browse

Ø Students and staff do brief book reviews to post on the school/library website

Ø Podcast reviews (check out www.justonemorebook.com)

Ø Remember nonfiction – not everyone is a fiction reader

Ø Remember that magazines build reading competence too

Ø Create an engaging reading space

Ø Talk about books with teens, ask teens what books they like and why

Ø Book reading clubs (read and discuss together) – consider mother/daughter clubs and father/son clubs

Ø For bookstores and libraries: Put the YA books section alongside sci-fi and graphic novels. (Many bookstores report having more success selling books to teens when they have moved the teen books section away from the children’s books section.)

Ø Link fun activities with books (e.g., go to the cemetery and read spooky stories for Halloween)

Ø Pair nonfiction selections with fiction selections and read both as part of a “package”

Ø Have authors visit schools

Ø Read-alouds

Ø Poetry slams

Ø Hire teens to work in bookstores and to intern in libraries – they will suggest books to their peers

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In the future, I hope The Bookaneer will become an actual newsletter, but for now it’s just a message sent from me to you once a month. If you do not want to remain on my list for The Bookaneer, please send me an email at this address and put in it the exact email address I used to send The Bookaneer to you. I will remove you from the list. I don’t want to be spamming anyone!

The Bookaneer is produced by Amy Wachspress (© 2007). Feel free to reuse any part of this e-zine, but give credit either to Amy or to the original source for all material used. Visit www.wozabooks.com for more information.