Here are just some of the books your school can win in the NCBLA's Mystery Writer Contest!

Guess The Exquisite Corpse Adventure Mystery Writer Contest and Your Kids can Win Over $500 of Great Books for Their School or Classroom Library!!  

In The Exquisite Corpse Adventure Mystery Author Prize Pack of Books the winner will find these terrific books by poet, novelist, and Coretta Scott Award winner Nikki Grimes!--and many more great books, too!

The autographed books are: 

 
  
Rich: A Dyamonde Daniel Book (hardback)  

  
What is Goodbye? (hardback) 

Jazmin's Notebook (hardback)

Dark Sons (hardback)  

Talkin' About Bessie: The Story of Aviator Elizabeth Coleman (picture book, hardback) 

Barack Obama: Son of Promise, Child of Hope (picture book, hardback) 








Nikki Grimes is a board member of the NCBLA and has personally donated and autographed this collection of books for the Mystery Writer Contest-- Nikki, thank you ! You can find out more about Nikki Grimes and her wonder-filled books for young people at: http://www.nikkigrimes.com/



Read The Exquisite Corpse Adventure fr
ee online at:  http://www.read.gov/

Find the The Exquisite Corpse Adventure Educational Resource Center at: http://www.thencbla.org/Exquisite_Corpse/exquisite_home.html

Find out all the The Exquisite Corpse Adventure Mystery Writer Rules at: http://www.thencbla.org/Exquisite_Corpse/MAC_home.html

And keep reading the NCBLA BLOG to find out important MYSTERY AUTHOR CLUES and PRIZE BOOK PACK information!

Children's Literacy Activist Alert!!!

Reading is Fundamental Needs Our Help NOW!

Action Alert: Reinstate RIF's Funding Effort Moves to Senate!President Obama's proposed FY11 budget eliminates funding for RIF and RIF's nationwide services. Support is building in the House, but the Senate process is just beginning.

From an excellent article in The New York Times, "U.S. Plan Threatens Free-Book Group," by Stephanie Strom-

"Changes in the way the federal government plans to allocate money to increase and improve literacy pose a severe threat to one of the country’s best-known nonprofit groups, Reading Is Fundamental. 

Known commonly as RIF, the organization, which provides free books to needy children and has been promoted in memorable public service announcements by celebrities like Carol Burnett and Shaquille O'Neal, stands to lose all of its federal financing, which accounts for roughly 75 percent of its annual revenues.

. . .Under the federal budget proposed for the 2011 fiscal year, the Department of Education has proposed pooling the money it allocates to RIF, another nonprofit organization, the National Writing Project, and five of its own grant programs, and instead distributing it to state and local governments. Under that plan, RIF and the writing project would have to compete state by state for federal funds"

“This really means that we would have to hire people to write grant applications tailored to the specific requirements of each state,” Ms. Rasco [Carol Rasco, chief executive of RIF] said. “That’s money we otherwise would be using to buy books for kids.”  

Read more of the article at: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/09/education/09grants.html?hpw

    Susan Poag/The Times-Picayune, via Associated Press


Educators and librarians know that literacy is the foundation for all learning, and that to create lifelong readers kids need to know how to read and they need terrific informative, enlightening, and yes, even entertaining books to keep them reading.  

For generations, Reading is Fundamental has given great books to thousands and thousands of kids in need.  Help them now! 
Contact your representatives in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives. Find out what you need to do, and how you need to do it, here: http://www.capwiz.com/rif/issues/alert/?alertid=14766866&type=CO

Here are just some of the book titles your school can win in the NCBLA's Mystery Writer Contest!

The NCBLA's 

Exquisite Corpse Adventure 

Mystery Author Contest Winner Will Win Over $500 of Books for His or Her School or Classroom Library!

Included in the Mystery Author Prize Pack of Books will be these titles from Newbery Award winning author Susan Cooper. The autographed titles are: 

  






The Dark is Rising Sequence-A special hardback one volume collection of Over Sea, Under Stone; The Dark is Rising; Greenwitch; The Grey King; and Silver on the Tree. 








King of Shadows- Hardback edition











Victory--Paperback edition









 


When I Was Your Age: Original Stories About Growing Up edited by Amy Ehrlich--hardback edition that includes stories by esteemed authors Susan Cooper, Katherine Paterson, Laurence Yep, Mary Pope Osborne, James Howe, Walter Dean Myers, Nicholasa Mohr, Reeve Lindbergh, Avi, and 
Francesca Lia Block!


Susan Cooper is a board member of the NCBLA and has personally donated and autographed this collection of books for the Mystery Writer Contest-- Thank you Susan! You can find out more about Susan Cooper's riveting books for young people at: http://www.thelostland.com/

Read The Exquisite Corpse Adventure free online at:  http://www.read.gov/

Find the The Exquisite Corpse Adventure Educational Resource Center at: http://www.thencbla.org/Exquisite_Corpse/exquisite_home.html

Find out all the The Exquisite Corpse Adventure Mystery Writer Rules at: http://www.thencbla.org/Exquisite_Corpse/MAC_home.html

And keep reading the NCBLA BLOG to find out important MYSTERY AUTHOR CLUES and PRIZE BOOK PACK information!

Sneak Peek: Episode 15 Goes Live Friday, April 9th

Latest Exquisite Corpse Adventure Episode Written by Katherine Paterson

In our last episode of The Exquisite Corpse Adventure Episode 14, by Linda Sue Park, our ingenious heroes, Nancy and Joe, outwitted the hungry wolf by employing a standard circus act-juggling. Grabbing food from the refrigerator, Nancy and Joe distracted the wolf so they, and the robot, Roberta, could make their escape to the cradle of time. The trick worked and they raced outside to the cradle, but dang, it hovered over the yard. "Human chain!" Joe shouted. The wolf, having gulped the last of the food, rushed after them. As Joe dangled from the floating cradle with the wolf nipping at his feet, Roberta used her strong arms to fling Joe and Nancy into the cradle. They returned safely to the beach where they had found the cradle in Episode 12.

In our next exciting Episode 15 by Katherine Paterson, Joe is awakened by a noise, "a rising and falling hump of something snorting like a steam engine with each breath." What is it? Friend or fiend? Why is Roberta so excited by a gingerbread house?

Read the Episode and see Calef Brown's colorful and quirky illustrations at Read.gov !

For over 30 years, author Katherine Paterson has been gathering awards for her touching and heartfelt stories. She says of her writing, "Eventually a character or characters will walk into my imagination and begin to take over my life. I'll spend the next couple of years getting to know them and telling their story. Then the joy of writing far outweighs the struggle, and I know beyond any doubt that I am the most fortunate person in the world to have been given such work to do."

Check for Katherine's many books at your favorite libraries and bookstores.




To learn more about Katherine Paterson, visit her website.

Calef Brown is an author and award-winning illustrator. Some of his own books include fun titles like, Polkabats and Octopus Slacks and Dutch Sneakers and Fleakeepers. His works have also appeared in numerous magazines including Time, Newsweek, and The New Yorker. You can see more of Calef's illustrations for The Exquisite Corpse Adventure in Episode 3 and Episode 7.



Be sure to visit Calef's website for more information on his books and illustrations.


ENJOY THE EPISODE!

Exquisite Corpse Adventure Mystery Author Contest: Clues #7 and 8

Can Your Class Guess the Identity of the Team Corpse MYSTERY AUTHOR?

Play Twenty Questions with other Exquisite Corpse Adventure readers around the country to help identify The Mystery Author!

Every class that solves the mystery and emails in the correct guess will be entered into a drawing to win a collection of books valued at over $500 for their classroom or library, plus a phone conversation with The Mystery Author! One classroom winner will be chosen at random from all correct entries received.

Teachers and Librarians, consider making this contest a game with the young people you work with. Play Twenty Questions in class, discuss the possibilities as a group, or have each student write his or her guess on a piece of paper and put it in jar. You can pull out the guesses at random and discuss how each author's name fits the clues so far.

Here's Today's Clues:

Clue #7

What is the Mystery Author's sibling status within his or her family?
A.) The Mystery Author is a twin like the protagonists in The Exquisite Corpse Adventure.
B.) The Mystery Author is an only child.
C.) The Mystery Author is one of several kids in the family.

Clue #8

Where did the Mystery Author live when he or she was a poor young aspiring writer?
A.) Sewer.
B.) Stock room at the local Wal-Mart.
C.) Boarding house.

Find the answers and the next two clues this Friday on AdLit.org!

Here's the Answers to Clues #5 and 6:

Answer to Clue #5: Two of the Mystery Author’s most favorite writers are James Marshall and William Steig.

Answer to Clue #6: The Mystery Author prefers cats over dogs…and iguanas.

You can send your guess to mysteryauthor@thencbla.org anytime, but you can only guess once! And we will be posting 12 more clues until we post the final clue on April 21, 2010. Check here every Monday and Wednesday and check AdLit.org every Friday to find the remaining clues.


For more information and complete rules, please visit www.thencbla.org.

In the meantime, be sure to read The Exquisite Corpse Adventure on Read.Gov! The most recent episode--Episode 14--was penned by Newbery medalist Linda Sue Park and illustrated by James Ransome.

Be sure to check out these supporting materials for The Exquisite Corpse Adventure:

Coordinating educational materials created by the NCBLA and the Butler Center for Children's Literature at Dominican University!

And The Exquisite Prompt Challenge Writing Contest sponsored by ReadingRockets and AdLit.org!

In case you missed it!

School Library Journal's Battle of the Kids Books Waged. . . . and the Winner is . . .

 

Marching for Freedom 

by Elizabeth Partridge

The Library of Congress' Young People's Book Ambassador and National Children's Book and Literacy Alliance Vice-President Katherine Paterson, was the "Big Kahuna" Final Judge. Other judges in the succeeding rounds included: M. T. Anderson, Christopher Paul Curtis, Nancy Farmer, Candace Fleming, , Helen Frost, Shannon Hale, Angela Johnson, Cynthia Kadohata, Julius Lester, Jim Murphy, Walter Dean Myers, Gary Schmidt, Anita Silvey, and Megan Whalen Turner. (http://sljbattleofthebooks.com/judges/)


Find all the great "Battle of the Kids Books" and share them with your kids, all available at your local neighborhood library or bookstore: 

CHARLES AND EMMA
CLAUDETTE COLVIN
THE EVOLUTION OF CALPURNIA TATE
FIRE
THE FROG SCIENTIST
THE LAST OLYMPIAN
LIPS TOUCH
THE LOST CONSPIRACY
MARCELO IN THE REAL WORLD
MARCHING FOR FREEDOM
PEACE, LOCOMOTION
A SEASON OF GIFTS
THE STORM IN THE BARN
SWEETHEARTS OF RHYTHM
TALES FROM OUTER SUBURBIA
WHEN YOU REACH ME

The NCBLA knows that a great children's book Internet event like this could not take place without many talented people working hard behind the scenes. So, we would like to thank Battle Commanders Monica Edinger and Roxanne Feldman (http://sljbattleofthebooks.com/commander/); Commentator Jonathan Hunt (http://sljbattleofthebooks.com/commentator/); and Rick Margolis, editor, and Mark Tuchman, creative director, both at School Library Journal--- for creating and organizing this provocative Battle of the Kids Books!!


For more information on the books listed above, reviews of the books, and to rehash the unfolding battle go to: http://sljbattleofthebooks.com/

Check This Out! And See What You Think!

Read Derrick  Z. Jackson's 

Column in The Boston Globe This Morning

from "The death of public education:Lack of money is killing our schools"

"Our investment in public school teachers is paltry for the wealthiest country in the world. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, the United States ranks in some measures behind England, Italy, Japan, Scotland and way behind Germany in starting teacher pay. The average expenditure on college students in the United States amounts to $24,400 per college student, two and a half times more than the $9,800 per-pupil spending in the public schools.

Beneath the numbers is the resegregation of children on the basis of class, race and immigration status. Prison spending soared so much, that by 2007, five states spent as much or more on corrections than on higher education, according to the Pew Center on the States."

And. . . .

"She [Linda Darling-Hammond, Stanford University professor] noted how Singapore, where 80 percent of families live in public housing, was tops in the world in fourth-grade and eighth-grade math assessments in 2003. 'When children leave the tiny, spare apartments they occupy in high-rises throughout the city,' she wrote of Singapore, 'they arrive at colorful, airy school buildings where student artwork, papers, projects, and awards are displayed throughout, libraries and classrooms are well-stocked, instructional technology is plentiful, and teachers are well trained.'

It is enough to make one consider whether America needs to start from scratch. Whatever we are doing, it is not working. For instance, Darling-Hammond said Obama has an education platform that could rival the last serious education president, whom she considers to be Lyndon Johnson, but 'to date has not squarely embraced the idea of equity. He did a great job coming out of the box on higher education, but inequity in elementary and secondary education is continuing to widen.'

Johnson once said you cannot “take a person who for years has been hobbled by chains and liberate him, bring him up to the starting line of a race and then say, ‘You are free to compete with all the others.’ ’’ Today millions of American children once again need our help to get to the starting line."

Read more at: http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2010/04/06/the_death_of_public_education/

Presidents are Dads, Too!

Dads, and Presidents, 

Make Great Reading Role Models!

President Barack Obama reading to kids at the White House Easter Egg Roll on Monday!

President George H.W. Bush, father and grandfather, reading aloud to kids at the White House during his tenure.

And below, Abraham Lincoln reading a book with his youngest son Tad, in a what may be the first photo of a President reading with a child.

Father's Story

by Elizabeth Madox Roberts 
(1881-1941)

We put more coal on the big red fire,
And while we are waiting for dinner to cook,
Our father comes and tells us about
A story that he has read in a book.



And Charles and Will and Dick and I
And all of us but Clarence are there.
And some of us sit on Father’s legs,
But one has to sit on the little red chair.

And when we are sitting very still,
He sings us a song or tells a piece;
He sings Dan Tucker Went to Town,
Or he tells about the golden fleece.

He tells about the golden wool,
And some of it is about a boy
Named Jason, and about a ship,
And some is about a town called Troy.

And while he is telling or singing it through,
I stand by his arm, for that is my place.
And I push my fingers into his skin
To make little dents in his big rough face.

Dads Everywhere! April is Poetry Month! Take time to share a book, or a poem, with your kids! 

The Exquisite Corpse Adventure Mystery Author Contest: Clues #5 and 6!

Can Your Class Guess the Identity of the Team Corpse MYSTERY AUTHOR?

Play Twenty Questions with other Exquisite Corpse Adventure readers around the country to help identify The Mystery Author!

Every class that solves the mystery and emails in the correct guess will be entered into a drawing to win a collection of books valued at over $500 for their classroom or library, plus a phone conversation with The Mystery Author! One classroom winner will be chosen at random from all correct entries received.

Teachers and Librarians, consider making this contest a game with the young people you work with. Play Twenty Questions in class, discuss the possibilities as a group, or have each student write his or her guess on a piece of paper and put it in jar. You can pull out the guesses at random and discuss how each author's name fits the clues so far.

Here's Today's Clues:

Clue #5

Who are two of the Mystery Author's most favorite writers of all time?
A.) Roy Rogers and Trigger.
B.) The Brothers Grimm.
C.) James Marshall and William Steig.

Clue #6

What is the Mystery Author's favorite pet?
A.)Cat.
B.) Dog.
C.) Iguana.

Find the answers and the next two clues this Wednesday here on the NCBLA blog!

Here's the Answers to Clues #3 and 4:

Answer to Clue #3: The Mystery Author writes books for all ages!

Answer to Clue #4: The Mystery Author grew up in different places because his or her family moved around a lot.

You can send your guess to mysteryauthor@thencbla.org anytime, but you can only guess once! And we will be posting 18 more clues until we post the final clue on April 21, 2010. Check here every Monday and Wednesday and check AdLit.org every Friday to find the remaining clues.


For more information and complete rules, please visit www.thencbla.org.

In the meantime, be sure to read The Exquisite Corpse Adventure on Read.Gov!

And check out coordinating educational materials and The Exquisite Prompt Challenge Writing Contest!

April is National Poetry Month! Share a Poem With Your Child!

When Mother Reads Aloud

When Mother reads aloud, the past
Seems real as every day;
I hear the tramp of armies vast,
I see the spears and lances cast,
I join the thrilling fray;
Brave knights and ladies fair and proud
I meet when Mother reads aloud.

When Mother reads aloud, far lands
Seem very near and true;
I cross the deserts’ gleaming sands,
Or hunt the jungle’s prowling bands,
Or sail the ocean blue.
Far heights, whose peaks the cold mists shroud,
I scale, when Mother reads aloud.

When Mother reads aloud, I long
For noble deeds to do...
To help the right, redress the wrong;
It seems so easy to be strong,
So simple to be true.
Oh, thick and fast the visions crowd
My eyes, when Mother reads aloud.

- Author Unknown

The above oil painting, Jungle Tales, was done by American artist James Jebusa Shannon in  1895. You and your children can see it at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. 

For more information on  James Jebusa Shannon go to : http://jssgallery.org/Other_Artists/James_Jebusa_Shannon/James_Jebusa_Shannon.html

Easter Egg Roll at Our White House This Monday!!

If You're Going to the 

White House Easter Egg Roll Monday to Meet First Lady Michelle Obama and Harry Potter Author J.K Rowling-- 
Get Ready!! 

Read the NCBLA's 

Our White House: Looking In, Looking Out before you go or watch the live performances on the White House website with your kids!!!

First Lady Michelle Obama hosts the White House Easter Egg Roll and this year the theme “Ready, Set, Go!” promotes health and wellness. The event will feature live music, sports courts, cooking stations, storytelling and, of course, Easter egg rolling. All of the activities will encourage children to lead healthy and active lives and follow the First Lady’s ‘Let’s Move!’ initiative, a national campaign to combat childhood obesity.

Children's book author J. K. Rowling will be one of the featured guests! Books that will be read on the Storytime Stage were checked out from DC public libraries. And they will all be returned on time!

All of the headliner music acts and Storytime Stage readers will have their performances broadcast live on: www.whitehouse.gov/eastereggroll . A full schedule will be posted on the morning of April 5th so kids from across the country can participate in the event.

Healthy activities will include a Family Farmer's Market – a look at healthy eating with celebrity chef demo stations. And a Make Your Own Garden – using the White House Kitchen Garden as the inspiration, children can make a seeding cup to take their own garden home to grow.
 

The Obama White House Kitchen Garden is far from the first Kitchen Garden. To the left is a lively illustration of Thomas Jefferson munching on a tomato from his own White House Kitchen Garden. Read all about the history of the White House Kitchen Gardens and see the full illustration done by 
S.D. Schindler in --

Our White House: 

Looking In, Looking Out. 



The National Children's
Book and Literacy Alliance's award-winning book is filled with stunning art, poetry,stories, and personal accounts that celebrate our Presidents and First Ladies, and the history and culture of America! Ask for it at your 
neighborhood library or bookstore! All proceeds go to help the NCBLA continue its work.  And be sure to visit the NCBLA's companion education website for the 
Our White House book at: 
www.ourwhitehouse.org!


Read more about First Lady Michelle Obama's Let's Move! project to help all Americans raise a healthier generation of kids at: http://letsmove.gov/
  
Read more about the White House Easter Egg Roll at:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/easterEggRoll
http://thepage.time.com/details-white-house-easter-egg-roll-2010/

A Tribute to Sid Fleischman

The Magic of Sid Fleischman

1920 - 2010

Sid Fleischman did not grow up wanting to be an award winning author. He wanted to be a magician. After high school, he followed his dream and traveled the country as a professional magician in vaudeville, a variety show. At 19, he published a handbook of magic tricks that is still in print.

After serving in the U. S. Naval Reserve during World War II, he completed college and worked as a reporter. It was here that his love of writing stories began. He worked at the newspaper until it folded and then turned to writing suspense novels for adults. Some of his books became movies and he was hired to write the screenplays.

Sid credits his children with launching his writing for young people. His screenwriting kept him home where his kids wondered what he did for a living..."I decided to clear up the mystery and wrote a book just for them." His first children's book, Mr. Mysterious and Company, was a family affair with his children critiquing each chapter. And of course it was about magic!

However, the book that made Sid Fleischman famous was not about magic and took him almost ten years to conjure up. The Whipping Boy, a story about a pauper taking a whipping every time the prince misbehaved, won the Newbery Medal in 1987.

Sid passed his writing brilliance down to his son, Paul, who received the Newbery Medal in 1989 for Joyful Noise: Poems for Two Voices. To date, they are the only father and son winners in Newbery history.

Over the next 20 years, Sid Fleischman would add more awards and write more than 50 works of fiction, tall tales, picture books, and biographies. He even wrote his autobiography, The Abracadabra Kid.

Sid Fleischman had a wonderful sense of humor and used it extensively throughout his books. He was so noted for this humor that The Sid Fleischman Award was created by The Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators to honor not only him, but future writers who exemplify, "...excellence of writing in the genre of humor."

On March 17th, 2010, Sid Fleischman, children's writer extraordinaire, performed his final disappearing act. There was only one Sid Fleischman and the world of children's literature will miss him terribly. Our only consolation is that his wit and imagination live on in the magic of his books.

Abracadabra!

Exquisite Corpse Adventure Mystery Author Contest Starts Today

The NCBLA Has Added a New Author to Team Corpse!

Can your class guess who he or she is?

Play Twenty Questions with other Exquisite Corpse Adventure readers around the country to help identify The Mystery Author!

Every class that solves the mystery and emails in the correct guess will be entered into a drawing to win a collection of books valued at over $500 for their classroom or library, plus a phone conversation with The Mystery Author! One classroom winner will be chosen at random from all correct entries received.

Here's Today's Clues:

Clue #1

What does the Mystery Author think you should do if you want to be a great writer?
A.) Watch at least four hours of TV a day.
B.) Practice belching all weekend.
C.) Read everything you can get your hands on--great picture books, comics, newspapers, nonfiction, poetry--everything and anything!

Clue #2

In which state was the Mystery Author born?
A.)Keystone State.
B.) Sunshine State.
C.) Garden State.

Find the answers and the next two clues this Friday on AdLit.org!

You can send your guess to mysteryauthor@thencbla.org anytime, but you can only guess once! And we will be posting 18 more clues until we post the final clue on April 21, 2010. Check here every Monday and Wednesday and check AdLit.org every Friday to find the remaining clues.


For more information and complete rules, please visit www.thencbla.org.

In the meantime, be sure to read The Exquisite Corpse Adventure on Read.Gov!

And check out coordinating educational materials and The Exquisite Challenge Writing Contest!

In case you missed it!

The NCBLA Shares a 

Roundup of Thought

Provoking News Articles and Essays from the Weekend: 

Edward Rothstein: Monkey Business in the World of Evil,  
The New York Times 

"You don’t really think about Curious George saving the day, as the title of the new exhibition at the Jewish Museum puts it. A “good little monkey,” he is called in the classic series of picture books by Margret and H. A. Rey, but he was no savior. He was a mischief maker, an innocent, born in the jungle and lured into the strange world of humans. ...


His misadventures, particularly in the early books, are ignited by impulse and inquiry, the consequences of wanting to see and to know, and the books’ charm is that they don’t condemn this curiosity; they relish it. Reality’s hard knocks — the chases, the falls, the breaking of limbs and objects — are ultimately taken care of by the nameless man in the yellow hat, who never seems to learn that you don’t leave such a childlike creature alone with a new bike, saying, 'Keep close to the house while I am gone.'"

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/26/arts/design/26curious.html?ref=design 
http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2010/03/25/arts/20100326-curious-slideshow_index.html

Nicholas Kristof: The Boys Have Fallen Behind,  
The New York Times 

"Around the globe, it’s mostly girls who lack educational opportunities. Even in the United States, many people still associate the educational “gender gap” with girls left behind in math.
Yet these days, the opposite problem has sneaked up on us: In the United States and other Western countries alike, it is mostly boys who are faltering in school. The latest surveys show that American girls on average have roughly achieved parity with boys in math. Meanwhile, girls are well ahead of boys in verbal skills, and they just seem to try harder."

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/28/opinion/28kristof.html?src=me&ref=general

David Elkind: Playtime is Over,  
The New York Times 


"A Nielsen study last year found that children aged 6 to 11 spent more than 28 hours a week using computers, cellphones, televisions and other electronic devices. A University of Michigan study found that from 1979 to 1999, children on the whole lost 12 hours of free time a week, including eight hours of unstructured play and outdoor activities. One can only assume that the figure has increased over the last decade, as many schools have eliminated recess in favor of more time for academics.

One consequence of these changes is the disappearance of what child-development experts call “the culture of childhood.” This culture, which is to be found all over the world, was best documented in its English-language form by the British folklorists Peter and Iona Opie in the 1950s. They cataloged the songs, riddles, jibes and incantations (“step on a crack, break your mother’s back”) that were passed on by oral tradition. Games like marbles, hopscotch and hide and seek date back hundreds of years. The children of each generation adapted these games to their own circumstances"
 

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/27/opinion/27elkind.html?src=me&ref=general

NCBLA Sidebar

Virtual View of Michelangelo's Greatest Work 

If you and your kids cannot travel to Rome to see Michelangelo's masterpiece, the Sistine Chapel, you can now share this virtual tour with the young people in your life! Go to:  http://www.vatican.va/various/cappelle/sistina_vr/index.html

 

And check out Diane Stanley's superb children's book about Michelangelo, at left, at your local public library or neighborhood book store and share it with the young people in your life this week!

Haiti Earthquake Severely Damaged It's Libraries

Haiti's Libraries Need Your Help!

From an article written by Madison Smartt Bell  in The Huffington Post,
"The Saint Martial compound was hit hard by the earthquake, though not completely destroyed. One of the school buildings fell to the ground. The church has been severely damaged. The building housing the library was structurally compromised, though it didn't collapse; in the weeks following the earthquake the current librarian, Patrick Tardieu, managed to get the collection boxed and removed.

So now the collection is in the same situation it was during the Duvalier days, when the dictatorship might well have destroyed it--because of its inspiration to freedom. Books don't do well in boxes in Haiti, whose climate is extremely hard on paper. I once received by mail an old book I had searched for long time. Though carefully sealed in a plastic wrapper, the paper was shot through with worm holes. When I took the plastic off, I found that the pages were uncut. No one had read this book, so far, but the worms.

The Bibliothèque Haïtienne, like the other collections which are also in danger, won't directly feed or clothe or shelter Haitian people. But it contains a spark of the spirit they need to keep going. More than an archive of their past, it holds the promise of their future"


The John Carter Brown Library at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, has established a fund, "Saving Haiti's Libraries." To make a donation, and view a special online exhibit of Haitian cultural treasures, visit http://www.brown.edu/Facilities/John_Carter_Brown_Library/haiti/
 
For more information about Haiti's libraries, go to: 
http://www.projo.com/news/content/HAITI_LIBRARIAN_AT_BROWN_02-04-10_I4HBAPB_v21.3b3eae7.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/madison-smartt-bell/haitis-libraries-history_b_517687.html

Can YOU Guess the Identity of the Mystery Author???

Attention NCBLA Exquisite Corpse Adventure Readers:

Play Twenty Questions to Identify
THE NCBLA MYSTERY AUTHOR
and Win BOOKS for Your Classroom or Library!

A new author will soon be joining Team Corpse, and The National Children’s Book and Literacy Alliance invites young people in classrooms across America to make their best guess at the Mystery Author’s identity by playing a game of Twenty Questions with other Exquisite Corpse Adventure readers.

Beginning Wednesday, March 31, 2010, the NCBLA will launch the Twenty Questions Exquisite Corpse Adventure Mystery Author Contest by posting the first of twenty clues here on the NCBLA’s blog. Subsequent clues will be posted three times a week throughout the contest. You can find clues every Monday and Wednesday on the NCBLA’s blog and every Friday at AdLit.org. The final clue will be posted Wednesday, April 21, 2010.

Each clue will be presented as a multiple-choice question, just like the classic Twenty Questions game. You know the game, the one that starts, "Are you thinking of an animal, vegetable, or mineral?" So, what do you think--Is the Mystery Author an animal, vegetable, or mineral?! 

Be sure to check this blog next Wednesday to discover the first clues! We invite classrooms across the country to play along by reading The Exquisite Corpse Adventure on Read.Gov and keeping up with the clues to help them identify the Mystery Author!

Every class that solves the mystery and emails in the correct guess will be entered into a drawing to win a collection of books valued at over $500 for their classroom or school library, PLUS a phone conversation with The Mystery Author! One classroom winner will be chosen at random from all correct entries received.

The NCBLA can accept entries only from teachers and librarians who are submitting a guess on behalf of a class or group of students. Classes from pre-school through Grade 12 are eligible to enter. Parents and grandparents, aunts and uncles—please share this information with your young people’s teachers!

Remember to read The Exquisite Corpse Adventure on Read.Gov. And don't forget to check out the NCBLA's coordinating educational materials and the Reading Rockets/AdLit.org writing contest The Exquisite Prompt Challenge.

Sneak Peek: Episode 14 Goes Live Friday, March 26

Latest Exquisite Corpse Adventure Episode Written by Linda Sue Park

In our last episode of The Exquisite Corpse Adventure 13, by M. T. Anderson, Nancy and Joe had fallen back into time, where they met their parents and themselves-as babies. And what cute babies they were! Their parents explained that monsters from another dimension were coming to get them and they had to save the babies. Of course Nancy and Joe suggested the circus, because that's where they ended up. After the parents and babies skedaddled, Nancy and Joe prepared to fight the monsters. Searching for weapons, Joe found Arm's robot torso. He screwed Arm into one socket while Nancy secured the second arm (which she happened to have with her). Just as the monsters closed in, the headless and legless robot moved!

In Episode 14 by Linda Sue Park, our heroes, Nancy and Joe, come face to face with one of the monsters. A "slobbering, slavering, panting..." wolf. Do they get away? What kind of circus-like plan do they attempt? What about the robot?

Read the Episode  and see James Ransome's illustrations at Read.gov !

Award winning author Linda Sue Park says that her childhood love of the public library led her to consider herself a reader first and a writer second. Find her inspiring and heart-warming stories at your local library or bookstore. And be sure to visit her website.

Stories illustrated by award-winning illustrator, James Ransome, have been featured on Reading Rainbow and PBS. His artwork can be found in many mediums including murals, historical paintings, and a Board of Education poster. Find more of James' colorful illustrations for the Exquisite Corpse in Episode 2, Episode 6, and Episode 10.

Visit James' website for a full list of his fabulous books!

USA National "Report Card" Released

The nation's students are mired at a basic level of reading in fourth and eighth grade . . . . 

From The New York Times: “The nation has done a really good job improving math skills,” said Mark Schneider, a former official with the Department of Education that oversees the congressionally-mandated test, known as the National Assessment of Educational Progress, or the nation’s report card. “In contrast, we have made only marginal improvements in reading skills.”

The article continues: "In seeking to explain the lagging reading scores, some experts point to declines in the amount of reading children do for pleasure as they devote more free time to surfing the Internet, texting on cellphones or watching television. Others say undemanding curriculums in reading may be to blame. 

For example, Susan Pimentel, an expert on English and reading standards who is a member of the governing board that oversees the test, said that American schools were fairly efficient at teaching basic reading skills in the early grades, but that as students matured they need to be consistently challenged to broaden those skills by reading not only complex literature but also sophisticated nonfiction in subjects like history and science. 

'We’re not asking them to read nearly enough, and we’re especially not asking them to read enough complex materials,' Ms. Pimentel said." 

From the Washington Post: The report from the National Assessment of Educational Progress showed that fourth-grade reading scores stalled after the law took effect in 2002, rose modestly in 2007, then stalled again in 2009. Eighth-grade scores showed a slight uptick since 2007 -- 1 point on a scale of 500 -- but no gain over the seven-year span when President George Bush's program for school reform was in high gear.

From Education News: Reading scores stayed flat for 4th graders and rose only slightly for 8th graders on the most recent National Assessment of Educational Progress, results that some find disappointing after many years of intensive attention to improving the reading skills of American students.


Read more about the "NATIONAL REPORT CARD" at: http://nationsreportcard.gov/

Read more news articles at:   

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/25/education/25reading.html

http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2010/03/24/27naep.h29.html

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/24/AR2010032400929.html?hpid=topnews

Share this video and spread the joy!

Read Across America- 

Hurrah for Ocoee Middle School in Florida!!

The Ocoee Middle School-- the kids and the teachers created this amazing video celebrating the joy of reading! So spread it around everywhere, spread the joy!