The Upcoming Year in Books

We’re taking the opposite approach of The New Yorker’s recent “What We Read This Year” article and looking ahead to our book plans for 2010. It’s a brand new year, a brand new decade, and a brand new chance to broaden our collective horizons, so I asked the OOMers and some Scholastic friends which books are on their must-read-in-2010 list:

Ivy: “I’d like to learn to cook more in 2010, so I think this book will be the key to achieving my goal: Lunch in Paris: A Love Story, with Recipes by Elizabeth Bard. It weaves recipes in with a romantic love story set in France! Now it’s just a matter of putting down the book and picking up the spatula.”
Jen: “I’m a little embarrassed to admit this…but I’m looking forward to April when the young adult prequel to Sex and the City comes out. Candace Bushnell’s The Carrie Diaries is on my must read list for 2010 (albeit in small, illegible handwriting).” (Note from Morgan: There is nothing embarrassing about wanting to get the fashion-filled, angsty, teenage scoop from Carrie Bradshaw!)
Sarah: “Carrie Ryan’s The Dead-Tossed Waves.”
Amanda: “The Hunger Games #3 by Suzanne Collins. Duh.”
Tyler: “Would it be totally lame to say The Hunger Games #3? Whatever the title may be…The other one I want to read right now is Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld. Know anyone who has a copy?”
Kyle Good: “Of course, I can’t wait to read the 3rd book in the Hunger Games trilogy but because everyone else will say the same thing, I’ll add that I’m anxious to read Solar by Ian McEwan because it’s about an individual who is skewered by the media. How could I resist?”
Suzanne Freeman: “The third book in the Hunger Games series! It’s the most exciting trilogy I’ve ever read! Why, why, why must we wait so long!?”
Sara Sinek: “I can’t wait to dig into The Help by Kathryn Stockett!”
Cathy Lasiewicz: “Miami Babylon, by Gerald Posner. I lived and worked there for five years…during the Cocaine Cowboy era, before South Beach became trendy and when Crocket and Tubbs were conceived. This should be a fun read.”

As for me, is it too ambitious to say “all of the above?” Probably; in which case, I should narrow it down: Maureen Johnson’s Scarlett Fever; Carol Goodman’s Arcadia Falls; The Baby-sitter’s Club prequel; and obviously, the final installment of the Hunger Games trilogy*. What books are you all looking forward to in 2010?

*note from OOM: In retrospect, we should have known our contributors would choose the final installment of the Hunger Games trilogy as the most anticipated book of 2010! Hey, at least we’re in good company.

Photo by Moriza

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Previously On Our Minds:

* (Holiday) Lights, Camera, Action!
* OOM’s Top 10 Posts of 2009
* Save the date! August 24, 2010

Scholastic Kids Press Corps year in review

2009 has been a big year in news and a big year for the Scholastic Kids Press Corps. Of course, it started with the inauguration of the first African-American President of the United States. In many ways, Scholastic coverage of the historic event was the pinnacle of a lot of hard work by more than 75 Kid Reporters from Florida to Nevada and all points in between.

The political coverage didn’t end there, as Kid Reporters nabbed interviews with members of the new administration, including Education Secretary Arne Duncan, Labor Secretary Hilda Solis, and even Executive White House Chef Christeta Comerford!

Like its adult counterparts in the media, Kids Press Corps also covered the H1N1 virus story. In fact, one Kid Reporter gave her first-hand account of having the virus.

Kid Reporters also interviewed sports stars Michael Phelps, Melanie Oudin and Tony Hawk…entertainers Meryl Streep, Daniel Radcliffe and Taylor Swift…and authors James Patterson, R.L. Stine and Kate DiCamillo.

As the year comes to a close, our young reporters have been sending in stories for the special report “Kids and the Economy.” They’ve been reporting on how the economy is affecting their communities, families and friends, with stories that they suggested, researched and wrote themselves, everything from how one school district is dealing with an increase in homeless students, to 4-H Clubs facing cutbacks because of the economic downturn.

We’re all looking forward to seeing what the Kids Press Corps has in store for 2010. Stay tuned!

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Previously On Our Minds:

* The Decade’s 10 Big Ideas in Education

* Scholastic Kid Reporters are unstoppable!
* News for kids, by kids

Upfront video contest winners announced!

We usually post a “5 Questions” video on Mondays, but today we’re sharing a video created by the talented eighth graders at Bannockburn School in Bannockburn, Illinois. They are the winners of the first ever New York Times Upfront video contest.

To celebrate its 10th anniversary, Upfront (the national news magazine for teens) invited junior high and high school students from across the country to create a video up presenting what they think are the Top 10 News Stories of 2009.

Check out the grand prize winner!

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Previously On Our Minds:

* Video contest for teens
* 5 Questions with Art Director Valerie Trucchia
* Best Teen Writing of 2009 is here!

Free e-book: Suite Scarlett!

We’ll likely be unplugged here at OOM for the next 72 hours or so. But before we go, here’s a gift from us here at Scholastic.

It’s a free e-book of Suite Scarlett by Maureen Johnson! The sequel, Scarlett Fever, comes out February 1st in hardcover and e-book format. So if you haven’t read the first one yet — be sure to download it through the widget below.

Happy Holidays!

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Previously On Our Minds:

*An International Feast: Hunger Games covers from around the world
*In honor of Teen Lit Day!

(Holiday) Lights, Camera, Action!

We’ve talked a lot about holiday books and how and rewarding it is to gift the gift of reading, but the OOM team also enjoys a great holiday flick now and again. The Stacks recently did a great post on holiday movie traditions, and here’s some from the OOM team:

Tyler: Home Alone 2: Lost in New York

Sarah: Elf…Nothing like Buddy to get you in the Christmas mood!

Morgan: My family and I watch National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation together every year, and it’s a race to see who can quote it the fastest. But I also have a soft spot for Love Actually, Elf, and any of the old animated films like ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas and Frosty the Snowman.

Jen: My traditional pick is It’s A Wonderful Life, which I first saw with my grandparents at the MGM Grand movie theater in Las Vegas. I was eight and ordered two Shirley Temples from the cocktail waitress! My non-traditional pick is Trading Places with Eddie Murphy and Dan Aykroyd: “It was the Dukes, it was the Dukes.”

Ivy: My all-time favorite holiday movie is The Santa Clause (yes, with an “e”!) because it mixes light adult humor with a children’s classic story. I’ve loved the movie since it came out on VHS. Now I have it on DVD and I watch it every night in December.

Personally, I can’t believe no one counted A Charlie Brown Christmas among their favorites. Good grief! I’m also a huge fan of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (“Bumbles bounce!”), The Santa Clause, and ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas.

Our friend WordGirl is getting into the holiday spirit too – check out this clip from her special holiday episode:

And from all of us at OOM, happy holidays!

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Previously On Our Minds:

* Tis the Season for Holiday News
* Best Holiday Gifts for Kids and Teens from The Scholastic Store
* Giving Classic Toys This Holiday Season

OOM’s Top 10 Posts of 2009!

The best part about closing out one year and diving into another? The chance to reflect, of course. So I reflected, and clicked through the OOM archives, and came up with the following 10 OOM posts that best captured our year here at Scholastic.

I present: OOM’s Top 10 Posts of the Year!

10. National Siblings Day Sometimes, we’re kind of random. Like on this day in April when Jen found out it was National Siblings Day, which obviously called for a blog post about our favorite sibs in literature. (For the record, I still vote for the Weasleys!)

9. Got Goosebumps? Because no one can top R.L. Stine when it comes to sheer creepiness, in all its fun, funny glory! Tyler snagged five minutes with the bestselling, world-famous author after he hosted a webcast at Scholastic Headquarters. Spooky!

8. The Vampire is Just Not That Into You Our dear, sweet vampire friend, Vlad, took time out of his busy blood-sucking schedule to answer some questions. Who knew creatures without pumping hearts could be so servicey!

7. It began. How do you get to Carnegie Hall? By being a winner of the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, of course. A beautiful tribute to the year’s awesome teen recipients.

6. The decade’s 10 big ideas in education A list that makes an honest attempt to round up what’s happened in the past 10 years in the education space? Sarah tried – and succeeded.

5. 2009: A breakout year for multi-platform publishing? In short: yes! From The 39 Clues to Skeleton Creek, storytelling now incorporates more platforms than ever before.

4. A school library ditches its stacks Maybe we at Scholastic are just partial to the word “Stacks,” but this blog entry stands out as so perfectly 2009 – because in any other year, a library going digital would have been the stuff of science fiction.

3. We’re not just learning about #iranelection, we’re participating Behold the power of Twitter. This entry reminded us how technology can unite people in ways never before possible.

2. An international feast: Hunger Games covers from around the world This entry got tons of pickup by other Tweets and blogs, and I’m going to assume it’s because it was so darn cool to see how the dystopian world of Suzanne Collins was perceived outside the US!

1. A tour of Scholastic headquarters in 105 seconds The most important thing to remember about working at Scholastic is that it’s capital-letter FUN. This video gives just a glimpse into the reasons why!

Did you have a favorite OOM post this year? Let us know in the comments. Happy (early) New Year, readers!

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Previously On Our Minds:

* Along a natural gas pipeline, literacy blooms
* Tis the season for holiday news
* Mountains of pajamas for kids in need

Have you joined The Lonely Hearts Club?

Last week we heard from YA author Elizabeth Eulberg about her new book The Lonely Hearts Club, plus we gave OOM readers a tough task to puzzle out. We asked you to tell us how many Beatles songs you could find in the first paragraph and headline of the blog post.

Congrats to Tannie’s Chatter, Marie Devers and spikeluv 13 who were the first three people to guess the correct number…which, because it’s the Beatles, is nine!

Hey, Jude! A special shout-out to you for astutely observing: If we’re going to be technical, I’d say 9 and a half, counting “Lonely Hearts Club” as a partial. And it’s a shame you didn’t use “I will” instead of “I’ll” in that second-to-last sentence, or we could have had another one! 😉

Now here’s a little something for everyone.

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Previously On Our Minds:

* Talking about social media makes us want to host a giveaway
* Giveaway for NBA nominee Lips Touch
* The Vampire Is Just Not That Into You giveaway winners

How blogging can help students find their ‘voice’

I’ve extolled the virtues of student blogging here before, but I felt compelled to do so again after serving as a juror for the “Alice Project.”

If you don’t know about the “Alice Project,” you should. Christian Long, a 10th grade honors English teacher from Texas, asked his students to read The Annotated Alice: The Definitive Edition, and then set them loose to blog about it for four weeks — to take a trip down “the rabbit hole,” as Alice did. Here were Christian’s expectations for the students.

The students’ work is public, and evaluated and commented upon by educators and bloggers from around the world. (No pressure, eh?)

I was honored to be asked to serve as a juror and read a couple of the students’ blogs. I was amazed at their sophisticated interpretations and analysis, and their ability to work in teams and think outside the box. But what struck me immediately was how quickly and easily many of the students seemed to find their own “voice.”

This is one of the student blogs I read. Check it out for yourself.

I think if you read several of the posts you’ll notice immediately that each student has his or her own personal style — it feels authentic, straight-from-the-mouth and, to some extent, effortless.

Any great writer works hard to discover and capture their own “voice” in their writing — and it seems to me that blogs are the perfect platform for practicing and capturing that elusive skill.

My hunch is that’s one of the many positive outcomes Christian anticipated for this project. I think he certainly succeeded.

(Photo credit: Olivander)

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Previously On Our Minds:

*The Decade’s 10 Big Ideas in Education
*We’re not just learning about #iranelection, we’re participating
*Why do we assume that Facebook has to be a distraction from learning?

Along a natural gas pipeline, literacy blooms

There are so many moving parts to a company the size of Scholastic, it’s easy to overlook some of things we do — even things that form the essentials of who we are at our core.

I just learned about a book program Scholastic has helped institute in Peru. A natural gas company, Peru LNG, decided to build a pipeline through the Andes, which can often mean sacrificing the ways of life of the people living in nearby communities. But they knew that they would have to give something in return to those communities and, to address the low literacy rates there, they turned to us for help.

The International Literacy Initiatives group (ILI) works with international companies and organizations to help them meet their social responsibility goals. Together with Peru LNG, ILI put together a collection of books that would appeal to the thousands children affected by Peru LNG’s presence in their communities. Approximately 40 early childhood centers in Huancavelica and Ayacucho have now received Scholastic books—bright, colorful board books featuring lessons on animals, colors, and shapes.

Selecting the books to be sent to Peru was a challenge; for starters, Peruvian children don’t learn Spanish until they begin attending school. Until then, they speak the local language, Quechua, which meant Scholastic needed to choose picture-heavy (rather than text-heavy) titles. ILI also had to ensure the titles selected were culturally appropriate.

We talk a lot on this blog about the Scholastic corporate mission, and that’s because it really is evident in everything we do. Just take a look at these photos, taken when Peru LNG and Scholastic distributed the books. Most of these children are now the proud owners of their very first books—a sure step in their journey towards developing a lifelong love for learning.

Meanwhile, more and more corporations are creating their own corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs, recognizing that each of us is responsible in part for the effect we have on the communities in which we operate, both as individuals and as groups. If you have thoughts on that, or on this particular book program, be sure to leave a comment.

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Previously On Our Minds:

* Mountains of pajamas for kids in need
* No reader left behind
* Teaching kids to be the curators of their learning

5 Questions with Rachel VanDeVoorde, Manager of The Scholastic Store (SoHo)

Although Rachel VanDeVoorde is a new addition to our Scholastic family, you would think she’s been with us for years just by watching this video because she has become a pro at her job faster than you can say “Santa Claus is coming to town.” Rachel’s expertise in helping customers select the perfect gift and her top-notch management skills are put to the test every day, but rarely more so than during the big holiday season.

For Rachel, no customer is too small (babies!) and no customer is a Titanic (hint!). So take a look as Rachel walks us through The Scholastic Store to see which items have been flying off the shelves and into the hands of many kids this holiday.

Remember, it’s not too late to get the perfect book or toy for Christmas. Most of the items you see in the video are available at www.Scholastic.com/Store and all items are available at The Scholastic Store in SoHo, New York (www.scholastic.com/SohoStore).

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Previously On Our Minds:

* Best Holiday Gifts for Kids and Teens from The Scholastic Store
* Tis the Season for Holiday News
* Spotted: Imagination Running Wild at The Scholastic Store