Just a quick note to let all of you know that Reading is Sexy will be down tomorrow in solidarity with the Strike Against SOPA. If you don’t know what SOPA is or aren’t sure about it, check this out:
PROTECT IP / SOPA Breaks The Internet from Fight for the Future on Vimeo.
This is the year-end message from Jumpstart President & CEO, Naila Bolus. If you did not receive this in your email and you’d like to get updates on Jupmstart via email, you can sign up for the Jumpstart Mailing List.
For more information about Jumpstart and Read for the Record, check out this post: Read for The Record.
Connal Halloween 2010
This year: running around playing with his panda ears.
Ten years ago I was just beginning my Sophomore year in college. My high school boyfriend was in the Army National Guard, an Infantry man. He’d returned from basic training the year before feeling like he wanted to be in the “real Army.” In early September 2001, we made plans for me drop him off at the recruiting station on the 11th early in the morning. They needed to go to his National Guard unit and get some papers signed releasing him from his commitment to the guard to go full time in the Army.
I didn’t have a class until that afternoon, so I dropped him off and went home. I dozed a bit in bed, then turned on the radio and heard that a plane had crashed into one of the Twin Towers. I thought it was some little plane, an accident. I went downstairs and flipped on the TV before making breakfast. When I sat down to watch, I realized every channel was covering the same thing, then a second plane hit.
Shortly after, my boyfriend called to tell me he’d be dropped off at the house. The military would be busy, waiting, watching that day. On 9-17, “America’s War on Terror” began as we decided to enter Afghanistan to look for Osama Bin Laden. On 9-21-11 my boyfriend’s enlistment in the “real Army” was finalized. I wrote in my journal, I hope the man I love doesn’t go to this “war” we’ve started.
He left October 2001 to go to Ft Lewis, Wa. 3 SBCT (not yet called that), 2ID (2/3 INF). Over the next 6 years, he would serve two tours of duty in Iraq. The first, 12 months. The second, a surprise 15-month. Though we did not stay a couple throughout all those years, we are now married. He will be at 10th Mountain soon and looking at another deployment to Iraq or Afghanistan.
I cannot begin to explain the effect that the events of one day had on the rest of our lives, personally. The way they changed us, our family, and now the way our young son will grow up — with a daddy in the US Infantry while our nation is at war.
It breaks my heart that such an atrocious event led us into an even more broken country, two generations of young men and women serving in combat over and over again. Each of them volunteering to shoulder the weight of this country and the weight of combat that they cannot fully understand until they’re standing in the thick of it.
Thank you to all the men and women who answered the call of the nation. Take a moment today to remember the lives lost, thank a soldier, and use this as a reminder to tell the people you love that you love them, squeeze your kids extra tight for someone who can’t hug their own, and enjoy being alive and free.
By now you’ve probably heard about the controversial children’s book Maggie Goes on a Diet. If you haven’t, this bit from Good Morning America will fill you in on both the book and the author’s intent, as well as the popular reaction to it – disgust. Book reviewers and bloggers like myself the world over have been ranting and raving about this book. The bullet points:
It’s aimed at young girls: depending on the seller, ages between 4 and 12 years old. It depicts a young girl, Maggie, who is overweight. She eats a lot and gets picked on. She starts eating healthier and exercising, loses weight, becomes a popular soccer star at school. The book is teaching children to associate the things they believe will make them happy with their weight.
Just reading about the book, not having read it myself, I think it’s awful, too. Why am I not shouting from rooftops about it like everyone else? A few reasons. It is getting advertising you can’t even pay for (for books anyway) and will sell a lot more copies now than it would have. It is the third book penned by this author., but the other two titles, while maybe not so psyche-damaging are on par with the quality of this book. What I mean is…
I write for children. I’m not published (though this is making think about putting more effort into that, let me tell you) and you’ve never seen my name on a spine in Barnes & Noble. I do study the craft and I am a mom who reads many books to her child every single day. I grew up reading wonderful books. To that end, I feel sufficiently experienced in telling you: Even if the message of this book was wonderful, it is still a bad book. The snippets I’ve been able to read without buying it are awful. The message is vague at best and easily misconstrued to the detriment of the age group it’s targeted at. It is self-published. Why? Because any publisher with half a brain wouldn’t publish this round-file worthy piece of junk. It’s elementary, in a bad way. To that end, no matter what the subject matter was, I still wouldn’t buy this for my child.
Writing children’s books is (native-New Yorker) Kramer’s second career. I have to assume that, since he’s self-publishing these books while living in Hawaii, he was actually good at his first career. So, my official commentary on Maggie Goes on a Diet is this: Do not buy this book. Do not visit Kramer’s website, Aloha Press, or even click through any ads on any sites displaying this book. Ignore it like the bargain-book-bin piece of junk it is. Kramer, if you feel strongly about literacy, children’s health, childhood development, etc. perhaps you should look into volunteering with an established group working in one of those areas. Please.
If you’re looking spend your time and energy on something book-related, check out these sites and invest yourself in something good (and let us now refrain from furthering the publicity for this guy and his lame book):
Jumpstart’s Read for the Record (coming up Oct. 6, 2011 – time to get ready!)
Shop Better World Books (donate books or sell/buy textbooks) to make a difference
