This might be enough to get me to finally take the leap. Fantastic pricing on the new Kindles and the Kindle Fire, a Full Color 7″ Multi-touch Tablet with Wi-Fi. Do a little happy dance.
Brand New Kindle Collection Launches Today
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Stand Up for Girls
Stand Up For Girls
Today is International Day of the Girl. Litworld is asking all of us to Stand Up for Girls. At noon today, wherever you are, whatever you’re doing, Stand Up. Take a photo of yourself standing up and post it to Litworld’s Facebook Wall. From Litworld: “Two thirds of all the world’s illiterate people are women. On September 22, we will stand up for girls and their right to go to school and to learn to read and write. Let us join together to launch a campaign to advocate for a transformative new era in girls’ education.
Every girl has the right to a quality education that will ensure she has a lifelong way to protect herself, advocate for herself, learn what she wants to know and be who she wants to be. Every girl has the right to read and write words that will change her, and to write and tell stories to change the world.
You can use their badge in your photo or as your profile icon in any social networks to show your support and spread the word.
Glyde News
It’s been a while since I wrote anything about Glyde.com. I still love the selling experience. Listing items it super fast and easy, then when someone buys your item, Glyde sends you a prepaid envelope addressed and ready to mail. You just pop your book or item inside, seal it and put it in your mailbox.
I recently listed a bunch of books I’d like to get rid of before our move to Fort Drum (check ‘em out and buy some). When I logged in, I noticed that Glyde is now selling used iPods, used Kindles, used Nooks, and used iPads and other tablets! The prices are excellent. Of course, this also means if you’re looking to upgrade your eReader, tablet, or iPod, you can sell your used ones on Glyde. When you sell, the money goes into your Glyde account first, so you can use toward your next purchase or withdraw it.
Maybe I will finally slip into the 21st century and get a digital reader. Happy selling and shopping, guys! Don’t forget to check out Glyde’s Daily Deals.
Maggie Goes on a Diet, Reviewers Go on Rants
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
Kids Count & Literacy
I just discovered KidsCount.org (part of the Annie E Casey Foundation) and was intrigued by the data in their 2011 Kids Count Data Book. You can search through a myriad of data by state or nationally and there are quite a few useful graphics and charts. You can also view the whole 88-page report as a PDF. Among the information in this report: children facing foreclosure, children with at least one unemployed parent, and an in-depth look at how poverty affects education and children’s futures. All of these issues can have astounding effects on the psychology and behavior of a child. There are also Family Stories in the later half that are not to be missed.
One set of data available was percentage of children ages 1 – 5 whose family members read to them less than 3 days per week. The first chart shows good progress in that more people are reading to their children more than 3 days per week in 2007 than in 2003 (most recent data).
This map shows which states are doing better reading to their children regularly than others (lighter blue states have lowest % of families reading less than 3 days per week to their kids). The phrasing drives me crazy, but I’m sure it’s to accurately describe the data used. In essence, Good job to the light blue states!
According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, “Every year, 35% of American children start kindergarten without the language skills they need to learn to read. Children who are not able to read at grade level are at risk for school failure when schoolwork becomes increasing dependent on reading ability.” Reading with your children is good bonding time, it encourages language development, critical thinking skills, imagination, and can be an excellent way to open communication about difficult or confusing topics (death, reproduction, cultures you are unfamiliar with, questions you can’t answer, etc.) As most of you know, but I’ll keep repeating it til I’m blue: There is no good reason not to read to/with your children every, single day.