Needless to say, the summer is off to a superb start. At this rate, kids are in good shape to beat last year’s World Record in reading (95,859,491 minutes).

That said, we have some NEW features we want to share with you all:

• New! Parents, if you’re a Summer Challenge first-timer, you may have a few questions about how the program operates. We’ve just put together this helpful guide that will tell you all about the registration process, what the program entails, and why it’s so important to get kids involved.
• New! Our Summer Challenge Pinterest board will have a new collection of books every week. We’ve rounded up some old favorites, new titles, and in keeping with our theme, books that take you around the world!
• New! We’re so thrilled to have a Summer Challenge partner in LitWorld. Starting in June, they’ll be contributing some of their amazing resources to our content calendar for parents. We’re also excited we’ll be hosting a Facebook chat with LitWorld founder Pam Allyn later in the summer! Details to come soon.

We also have some important reminders for teachers involved. See below!

• Reminder: Teachers, if you haven’t done so already, send this letter home to parents about the importance of summer reading. Encourage them to establish a reading routine for the summer and to check the content calendar for ideas for making reading fun for kids!
• Reminder: Teachers, you can still enter for a chance to win a classroom library! Learn more here. (Deadline: June 30).

And lastly, a big thanks to the U.S. Governors’ Spouses who have signed on as Reading Ambassadors of the Summer Challenge! The Reading Ambassadors–whose names will be announced soon–are encouraging summer reading in their states by hosting events at local schools and distributing the books that Scholastic has donated on their behalf. You can see Georganne Nixon, the First Lady of MO, in action in the picture above. We love seeing kids across the country get excited about reading this summer!

That’s all for now. Encourage your summer readers to keep up the good work!

• From the Raise a Reader blog: Using Books to Break the Ice and Tips for Talking With Kids About Scary News
• From our Parents site: Talking to Your Kids About Natural Disasters, War and Violence
• From Instructor Magazine: When Terrible Things Happen
• From the Yale Child Study Center: Tips for Helping Families and Children Cope with Disaster and Stress
• And, Scholastic’s editor-at-large Suzanne McCabe talked with NPR about helping kids through difficult times following the Sandy Hook shootings. We think it’s helpful and relevant today, too. You can find it here.

It’s graduation season! (Even our own Megan is in on it — she graduates today with her Master’s degree in English and American Literature! Go, Megan!) Julia Graeper

Last week, a friend asked me to contribute to a “words of wisdom” book that she is compiling for her daughter who will graduate from college this month.  As I wrote to her about my own experience, I also wondered whether it is possible to discover some universal truth about graduation.  A big idea, I know.  But graduation seems to be the occasion when, in a single breath, we’re most likely to talk about such topics as the future, the past, career, ambition, life, love, death.  Well, maybe not death.  But the rest seems fair game during graduation season.

A student might experience many graduations: kindergarten, eighth grade, high school, college, maybe even graduate school.  I wondered what these have in common.  Reasonably, greeting cards and commencement speakers focus on what’s been accomplished (“you did it!”) and what lies ahead. In the letter to my friend’s daughter, I used the word “transition” a lot, particularly the disconnect between what I expected the transition to be after college, and what it actually was.  I thought it would be about learning to wake up at 7:00 a.m. instead of 10:00 a.m.  Instead, it was about learning how to be myself, to do new kinds of work, to fit in and find myself.  Again.  I thought I already did that in high school! And college!

I realized that to me, that’s what graduations are really about: the preparation for the periodic re-evaluation and self-discovery that happens throughout life.  When I was little, I thought there would be a single moment when I would become a grown-up.  It turns out, that’s not true!  We are always changing and shifting to accommodate new knowledge, new circumstances, and new expectations.  Graduations help us learn to recognize these shifts and adjust.

One of my first, jarring, life transitions was the move from kindergarten to first grade.  That which was enforced but resisted in kindergarten – the afternoon nap – suddenly became a fond memory in first grade.  The grim determination that I summoned in order to sound out Pig can jig.  Dan can dig. felt positively monumental. Boy, I really wanted that afternoon nap after all the jigging and digging.

After that initial struggle, reading became the very best way for me to work out who I wanted to be, again and again.  And Scholastic publishes so many books at all levels about finding and being yourself, from David Shannon’s hilarious “David” series, to the brand-new Openly Straight.

Because what else – if not books – helps us figure out who we are in life?

Image via

Every Friday, we share a handful of links that we found funny, provocative or just plain cool.  We call it In Our Feeds.  Have a good weekend!

Let’s start with all you 20-somethings, shall we? Buzzfeed listed “65 books you need to read in your 20s,” and I admit, it’s a pretty good list. (One of my favorites, The Secret History by Donna Tartt, came in at #4 on the list!) What do you think — are the titles listed there definite must-reads for people going through their quarter-life crisis? (Thanks for the link, Lauren!)

Meanwhile, it’s baseball season, but spring is also a time for poetry too. Lia sent me a story where the two merge: check out how a poem spread to 1,500 baseball fields!

I guess we’re all about numbers today, because Nadia sent over this cool news: on June 1, millions of library patrons at 7,500 different libraries will read simultaneously as part of the Big Library Read! That’s a lot of reading. I’m on board!

On the social front, we’re into this news: You can now pull up the profile of almost anyone on Instagram — anyone who doesn’t have a private account, that is — and browse photos he or she appears in. Yep, Instagram has now allowed tagging in photos. Did you know we’re on Instagram? Check us out — @ScholasticInc, @ScholasticBookClubs, and @CliffordtheBigRedDog!

Have a great weekend, friends.

If you don’t know Meg, get ready. She’s the bestselling author of books like the Allie Finkle series, The Princess Diaries, and the Abandon trilogy, among others. (Psst: the third installment, Awaken, hits stores in July!) And, frankly, she’s a total hoot.

We asked her some serious, hard-hitting questions. Okay…they’re actually more like fun, bookish questions that will make you laugh. Right after we filmed this, she hosted a live chat over on the Scholastic Book Clubs Facebook page, so if you missed that, check out the replay here!

Take it away, Meg!

My favorite classic children’s book? Growing up, I absolutely adored The Boxcar Children series. The first book was my favorite; in addition to reading it multiple times, I used to fall asleep to it on cassette tape night after night. To this day, my mother still has my copies in a box in the garage. Though The Boxcar Children was originally published in 1924–and then reissued in 1942–it resonated with me in the ’90s. I loved how the Alden siblings looked out for each other, and always looked forward to reading about the various mysteries they solved!

My favorite modern children’s book that I hope will become a classic?
Am I allowed to say the Harry Potter series? Or is that already considered a classic? (For the purpose of this post, I’ll classify it as “modern” since it was published in the late 20th/early 21st century.) I actually have a confession to make: I didn’t read the Harry Potter books until after college. Shameful, I know, especially given the fact that I work at Scholastic. But reading Harry Potter in my 20′s led to a sense of appreciation that I may not have felt had I read the series sooner. J.K. Rowling’s writing is just gorgeous, and so, so smart. The name of every character and every spell is loaded with meaning, the characters are wonderfully developed, and the lessons threaded throughout the text are subtle and moving. I can only hope this series will remain a staple for future generations.

How about you, readers? What are your favorite classic and modern children’s books? We’d love to hear from you!

Makayla with her “Old Lady” books!

In honor of Children’s Book Week, we asked the children in our lives to tell us what their favorite book is and why. Although we got some pretty great answers, we also encountered a few children who said they didn’t read. Even beyond Children’s Book Week, it is critically important for children of all ages to have access to books and reading role models in their life. Whether you have children or not, it’s never too late to become a reading role model, as proven by this 91-year-old.

So without further ado, here are the children we polled and their top picks:

Jake, age 3, said he likes books that have trucks!

Ashlee, age 5, enjoys The Froggy books. While hopping, Ashlee said she likes The Froggy books because “He hops! Hops! Hops! Like a frog!”

Makayla, age 5, said she likes The “Old Lady” books because she always swallows funny stuff! She has six of the books, but her favorites are The Old Lady Who Swallowed a Rose and The Old Lady Who Swallowed a Bell. Makayla also said she loves any books that have dogs in them.

Sophia, age 6, likes the Fly Guy books because “he is funny.”

Emily, age 8, enjoys reading Ramona and Beezus because Ramona always gets into mischief.

And last but not least are Jacob and Olivia, who you may remember from a guest post by Sara Sinek, Senior Director of Corporate Communications at Scholastic.

Jacob at the book fair!

Jacob, age 2, loves anything to do with Elmo, so it’s no surprise his pick at the Scholastic Book Fair this week was Sesame Street, Opposites Day! The book has cool sound buttons he can press. He also loves the Dinosaurs! board book as each page has big and bright dinosaurs that he makes roar with every page turn.

Olivia, age 4, loves the colors pink and purple so an obvious pick of hers is Pinkalicious. She always thinks it is funny how Pinkalicious turns pink and red. Keeping to her theme of favorite colors, Olivia also loves My Big Pink Book of Everything and asks to read it 6 out of 7 nights a week! Olivia also enjoys reading Zoe Gets Ready; Zoe gets to pick out her own outfits on Saturdays, and now Olivia gets to do the same at home.

Do you remember your favorite childhood book? Share it in the comments!

This awesome infographic from OnlineSchools.com proves that texting is on the rise–and it doesn’t look like it’s going anywhere anytime soon. (That said, more and more people are communicating with emojis these days, so who knows?) A reported 15 million text messages were sent per minute in 2011, and that number is likely on the rise, especially among teens and tweens.

Certain studies argue that there’s no link between poor grammar when texting and actual grammatical understanding, but in one survey, two-in-three teachers reported they regularly find text-speak in students’ homework. In fact, a college professor friend of mine recently received an email from one of her students that not only contained all lower-case letters, but also used “u” instead of “you”. A different student approached her during a final exam to ask what a paragraph was, and then wanted to know why he couldn’t make a bulleted list instead of using full sentences. It’s stories like these that make me nervous for the future of the English language. There are, of course, plenty of students who write beautifully and manage to shift seamlessly between text-speak and proper English. But is that the exception or the rule these days?

What do you think, readers? We’d love to hear your thoughts on whether or not texting is hurting the English language.

Image via Jason A. Howie

For the Sports Lover

Learn how baseball great Jackie Robinson became a sports and civil rights icon with Jackie Robinson: American Hero (ages 7 and up), written by his daughter Sharon Robinson. If basketball is more your game, check out Jeremy Lin: Rising Star (ages 8-12) which chronicles Lin’s early days as a high school hoops player through the rise of Linsanity.

iBiographies for the tech junkie

Microsoft, Apple, Google, Facebook, Twitter…These companies revolutionized the world and changed the ways in which we do everything from reading a book to communicating with friend to taking a picture. Get to know the industry’s leaders behind the influential companies in Profiles: Tech Titans (ages 9-14) and discover how Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg and others who changed technology.

A trip down memory lane

Travel the Missouri river with Sacajawea. Discover Relativity with Einstein. Ask not what your country can do for you (but what you can do for your Country) with JFK. Take a perilous journey on the Underground Railroad with Harriet Tubman. If you’re looking for historical biographies, be sure to read Scholastic’s I Am series for readers ages 8-12. I Am is a biography series featuring some of the most important people from history and today.

Who do you want to read about? Let us know which biographies fascinate you in the comments!

My favorite classic children’s book?  The Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder.  The truth is that I loved the entire series and reread them so many times that I can’t even fathom my childhood without them.  When we went on car trips or moved when I was a child, at least one book of this series was always in the car with me within easy reach.  I had never lived in the time that Laura Ingalls Wilder wrote about and I had never been to any of the places that she had been but as a child with a book in her hand, I could go there with her.  Because of this series, I became interested in lifetimes and histories other than my own.  Although Laura and I came from different times and places, I connected with her in a way that captured my imagination.  It was through these books that I understood that there was time that happened before I was alive and there were places that I had never been.  That can be a big revelation when you are 8. 

My favorite modern children’s book that I hope will become a classic?  A Crooked Kind of Perfect by Linda Urban.  This one was very hard for me.  There are three books that I just adore and admittedly re-read even now.  (The other two are The Princess Academy by Shannon Hale and The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo in case you were wondering.)  The reason I ultimately chose A Crooked Kind of Perfect is because as I was reading this book I remember having the thought “If I ever have girls I want them to read this book”.  The story is about a 10 year old named Zoe and how more than anything she wants to learn how to play the piano. Instead her parents get her organ lessons.  While she is incredibly disappointed, Zoe comes to see the impact that her musicianship has on her family.  This is an incredibly relatable story for girls and allows them to see the value in their world, even if it isn’t “perfect”.

Have your own picks for favorite children’s books classic and future?  Let us know in the comments!

Fourth-grade teacher Laura Murray is here again with some great Storia ideas! Today, she’s talking about historical fiction. And who doesn’t love some good historical fiction? Thanks, Laura!

History was never my favorite nor my best subject when I was in school. I could never remember names, dates, places, and all the important facts of historical events. I still have a hard time with it, which makes it surprising that my favorite genre to read is historical fiction. Although many times I find that the events in these books are extremely disturbing, I am very intrigued by reading about how people lived long ago. And I can use Storia, Scholastic’s free ereading software, to engage my students with it!

I share the love of this genre with my students every year at about this time. It is sometimes a difficult genre for fourth graders since they don’t have a whole lot of historical knowledge and background. However, tying this reading genre to our current social studies unit, or periods of time that we have already studied this year, helps out with this problem. One of the most important aspects of a historical fiction book to pay attention to is the setting. Without the historical knowledge of the time period, readers miss a lot of what is happening in the story. This is definitely something to keep in mind when you see your child reading a historical fiction book. If you find that they are missing major ideas in the book, or are having a hard time understanding what is going on, try having a conversation with them about the time period first. This may clear up any misunderstandings that they are having.

When we begin a unit on historical fiction I like to refresh the students’ memories by looking at pictures of the time period, talking about them, and sometimes watching short videos about them. This gets their minds thinking about the setting that the characters will be facing in the story. Setting is so important when reading historical fiction because it will most likely be the cause of the problem or maybe even the solution. Students need to know the major events that were going on in the country during the time period that they book takes place. For example, they need to know about slavery and how dangerous it was for a slave to escape to fully understand Corey’s Underground Railroad Diary. They need to know that people were placed on the Titanic based on social and economic status before they could understand fully the events of I Survived: The Sinking of the Titanic. Reviewing the most important ideas of a time period will help your child when reading this genre.

Not only do readers need to know about different time periods, they also need to understand what to think about when reading historical fictions.  So, here are some questions that you can discuss with your child as they read historical fiction books.  These questions will also help your child decide what they should be putting on their virtual post it notes when using Storia.  They can also use the highlight feature to highlight some of the historical components of the book and how they are effecting the characters.  Hopefully these questions will help lead you in a discussion with your child to deepen their understanding of the text.

What Good Readers Think and Talk About When Reading Historical Fiction

In the beginning…

• What is the setting of the book?  What do you already know about this setting/time period?
• What are the conditions in which the characters live?
• What problems would you expect characters to face based on this setting/time period?

In the middle…

• What elements of the characters’ daily lives teach about the setting?
• How is the setting affecting the character?
• How is the setting creating a problem?
• How is the character using resources from the time period to help them solve their problem?

In the end…

• What have you learned about the historical period?
• How were the problem, setting, and characters uniquely tied to the time period?
• How might the story have been different if it took place today?

I really love how historical fiction forces readers to think deeply about story events and setting.  I find that my students need to stop and think deeply more often to answer some of these questions and to have great book club conversations.  Not only are these great “thinking books”, they are also a great way to incorporate the learning of history as well.  I hope this genre makes history come to life for your readers.

Happy Reading!

The Scholastic Outstanding Educator Awards recognize the exceptional commitment of READ 180 and System 44 educators who have helped students overcome their reading challenges. These four teachers have helped struggling students turn their lives around by learning to read in READ 180 or System 44 classrooms, going above and beyond to ensure their students become lifelong readers and succeed across all subject areas.

So, without further ado (drum roll please), here are the 2013 Outstanding Educators:

The 2013 READ 180 Outstanding Educators are:
High School: Tina Burnsworth – Salem High School, Virginia Beach, VA

Middle School: Jeanette Simmons – Argyle Magnet Middle School, Silver Springs, MD

Elementary School: Dan Kane – Franklin Avenue School, Westfield, MA

The 2013 System 44 Outstanding Educator is:
Gloria Garcia – Smith Elementary School, San Antonio, TX

Congratulations to all of our winners!

For more information on the 2013 winners click here!

We are so thrilled for our colleagues across the pond. The Bookseller Industry Awards recognize the very best in and of the British book trade – celebrating publishing, retailing and libraries. Apparently this year the competition was especially tough, with entries across all categories notable for their quality and quantity.

In their wrap-up of the awards, Bookseller notes, “Scholastic Children’s Books won Children’s Publisher of the Year after its success with Hunger Games trilogy, which notched up three number one slots and saw exponential digital sales growth, including more than 1m Hunger Games e-book downloads. ‘It left a huge mark on the market in 2012,’ the judges said.”

As the @ScholasticUK Twitter account noted, “Of course without our incredible authors and illustrators we wouldn’t even have made Children’s Publisher of the Minute… *salutes them*”

Congratulations to Scholastic UK!

As Morgan mentioned yesterday, this week is Children’s book Week!

My favorite classic children’s book? The Pain and the Great One by Judy Blume. With its simple watercolor illustrations, it’s the humorous story of two siblings, splitting narration duties— the pain and the great one both think the other gets more attention and is more loved. I have an older brother whom I love an adore, but we were not immune to our fair share of bickering growing up. Blume’s hilarious look at sibling rivalry resonated with me from a very young age. Whenever my brother and I argue, it’s still the first thing I think of.

My favorite modern children’s book that I hope will become a classic? The False Prince by Jennifer A. Nielsen. From the flap copy alone, I knew this book was going to be right up my alley. “Four boys. One treacherous plan. An entire kingdom to fool.” I was right. The book delivered on it’s promise of edge-of-your-seat adventure, heart-racing action, and a mystery that had me gripped from start to finish. It was so good, I read it one sitting. When I was done, I couldn’t wait for the sequel. As future readers pick it up, I have no doubt they’ll feel the same way.

This is a pic of a fence that’s also a catenary curve!

In celebration of the much anticipated launch of MATH 180, we encouraged you to join our #MathPics photo contest for some math-focused fun and a chance to win some prizes!

We had so much fun seeing your #MathPics and we encourage you to continue to spot math in the world around you! (We know we will!)

This week concludes the #MathPics contest, here are your final winners:

1.) Box of lollipops contains 100 pops, John ate 36…how many are left?

2.) A class of fourth grades explore  area and perimeter

3.) A parabola is found in a flashlight

We have had some great #MathPics entries, we thank all of you math lovers for participating!

You can’t talk about children’s books without mentioning Dr. Seuss. Al Roker lists Seuss’s classic Green Eggs and Ham as one of the books that shaped his life (Tony Hawk and Kristi Yamaguchi agree!) So does Jim Parsons, who said “Green Eggs and Ham, along with other Seuss books, was a big help in teaching me to actually read — I loved hearing this book over and over and was able to memorize it which allowed me to associate the words I heard with the words I saw on the page.”

Judy Blume includes Madeline in her Bookprint, while Taylor Swift lists the lovely Charlotte’s Web.

Rick Riordan seconds the love for Charlotte’s Web, and adds James and the Giant Peach and The Phantom Tollbooth to his list.

We love that all of the books in Christina Applegate’s Bookprint are children’s books—from The Giving Tree to Where the Sidewalk Ends to My Book About Me. The same can be said for George Lopez, who dedicates his entire Bookprint to children’s literature, such as Click, Clack, Moo Cows that Type, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, and Oh, the Places You’ll Go!

Lily Collins lists the beloved Goodnight Moon and the Harry Potter series in her Bookprint. Also Harry fans? Marcia Gay Harden and Daniel Radcliffe (are you surprised?).

Brian Selznick chose some wonderful children’s titles for his Bookprint: Where the Wild Things Are, The Borrowers, and Fortunately, by Remy-Charlip.

Also a kid lit fan? Writer Jeff Kinney, who has titles like Flat Stanley, Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing, and My Book About Me in his Bookprint.

Discover all of our celebrity Bookprints on Scholastic’s Read Every Day. Lead a Better Life. site.

The first Children’s Book Week poster from 1921!

Today kicks off Children’s Book Week, an annual celebration of books for young people and the joy of reading. Yeah, I think that’s something we can all get behind!

Children’s books are the first books we read, and of course, we read them at a time when we’re devouring the world around us as fast as we possibly can. Everything is new when we’re kids — the sights and sounds and feelings of the world around us — and so children’s books become markers by which we remember our certain times in our life. And those memories become heightened over the years. I was seven years old when I first read that book, I can say to myself about The Baby-sitters Club; I remember how I got my first copy and where it lived in my bedroom.

Children’s books leave their mark in ways adult books don’t, I’ve found. This week we’ll all be sharing our favorite classic children’s books as well as the modern books we hope will become classics as a way of honoring the books that nurtured our childhood.

My favorite classic children’s book? The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin. First published in 1978, it won the Newbery in 1979 (the year I was born, which feels like fate) and was developed into a movie in the late 1990′s. This book is such a favorite of mine that I inadvertently memorized much of the first chapter, simply by reading it so often as a kid. (My twin sister and I still spontaneously burst into our recitations occasionally…) Turtle Wexler is, of course, one of the best characters I’ve ever come across.

My favorite modern children’s book that I hope will become a classic? The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick. (Coincidentally, Selznick also designed the poster for this year’s Children’s Book Week!) Full of a riveting story and the most incredible artwork, Hugo is a multiple award-winner that is sure to capture kids’ imaginations — like it did mine! — for years to come.

How about you, readers?

Every Friday, we share a handful of links that we found funny, provocative or just plain cool.  We call it In Our Feeds.  Have a good weekend!

Who better to get life lessons from than our friends from Hogwarts? Here are 5 life lessons we can learn from the Harry Potter Series.

Thanks to our friends at Instagram, you can now travel the world in 80 photos.

Ever wish you could read in the bathtub without getting your book wet? Check out this 8-year old’s invention for keeping books dry when bathing!

At Scholastic we love getting books into the hands of children, so we were thrilled when we came across this awesome initiative from Out of Print. Out of Print will donate a book for each player that reaches a score of 25,000 on The Great Gatsby video game.

We’ve all been there: you are trying to find a specific book but can’t remember the title of it…well now there’s a solution thanks to Tip of My Tongue. The Tip of My Tongue page at Reddit has thousands of dedicated readers who will help you find a book!

Have a great weekend! And Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms out there!

This weekend marks a fabulous holiday…other than Mother’s Day, that is. It’s NATIONAL BABY-SITTING DAY! All the true fans (ahem!) will be celebrating with an exclusive BSC eCard on the Facebook fan page, but all in all, it’s a perfect opportunity for us all to reflect on our relationship with The Baby-sitters Club. The Club has become much more than a book series full of tween drama and slumber parties; for a lot of young readers, it’s become a rite of passage.

For millions of readers across the globe (more than 176 million, to be exact), the life experiences of Kristy, Claudia, Mary Anne and Stacey are gripping testaments to pre-teen girl world. Responsible enough to care for a sitting charge but not old enough to choose how you wear your hair (looking at you, Mary Anne) – the everyday successes and struggles of the BSC crew are the same that kept many of us on our toes through middle school and beyond. And thanks to Ann M. Martin and the BSC girls, we were never alone.

Everyone has a favorite Baby-sitters Club book. Maybe it’s your favorite because it was about something close to home (diabetes? Losing a loved one?) or maybe, it’s just the most memorable because of its downright genuine navigation of eighth grade.

Regardless, it’s easy to remember why we love the series so darn much: the BSC girls could have been in our groups of friends, homerooms, or down the block. And yet as familiar as they seemed, the characters also gave us a chance to connect with different versions of ourselves. Even when we didn’t agree with all their actions (did you really think your substitute math teacher would share your romantic intentions, Stacey?), we learned with them and through them.

As a 20-something year old, it still feels good to peruse the pages of a BSC book. That’s why I’m so excited to keep reading the ebooks as they roll out with the classic covers I know and love! It feels just as cozy to read Kristy’s Great Idea on my e-reading device in the subway as it did with the original paperback on the top bunk bed. With the launch of Super Specials in ebook coming June 1st, there’s a lot for BSC fans to keep looking forward to. Don’t forget to send our BSC eCard to all your fellow fans and a very happy National Baby-sitting Day!
 

I never really expected to be at Scholastic this long. I moved from Pittsburgh to NYC to work for the company (as an Associate Editor on Scholastic News Online), and I thought I’d work on that website for a couple years and move on to the next thing. See, I thought SNO was just a another news website — kids were the primary readers, but otherwise it was like working on any other online news outlet.

Wrong.

The signal difference was that SNO had Kid Reporters, and the longer I was at Scholastic the more I got to work with this group of truly exceptional young people. Ultimately, the Kids Press Corps and SNO were split into separate entities and I moved with the Kid Reporter program. Eventually, I took over running the program, succeeding my first boss at Scholastic, Suzanne Freeman, who founded the Kid Reporter program in 2000 (and who has been a great mentor and better friend).

It was the biggest challenge I’d faced, professionally: Being responsible for 60 Kid Reporters, at least one parent per kid, and the day-to-day administration of what amounts to a mid-sized daily online news outlet is not for the faint of heart. There were awkward moments (like having to correct parents who were older than me when they were in the wrong) and frustrations (don’t get me started on some of the groups that put on primary debates during a presidential election), but man was it rewarding. Not only was I a journalist, I was also a teacher and a mentor sharing my experiences with the next generation of journalists. As a professional adult — as a human being — there is no greater validation than having a group of kids tell you how much you’ve impacted their lives.

But they’ve changed my life, too. I attended and helped cover the DNC and RNC, two debates, and an inauguration; visited the White House twice, once for an interview with the President; oversaw interviews with the First Lady and Steven Spielberg — all things that would have been unimaginable when I moved to NYC in 2008. But the experience of working with these kids during and after Hurricane Sandy hit the east coast was perhaps the most incredible. Once they were safe and confident they could move around their communities, Kid Reporters sprang into action, bringing truly exceptional reporting about what was happening in New York and New Jersey to other kids around the country. Their work was so impressive and and so expert, I would hold it up against anything any adult reporter turned in.

More to the point, though, by working with the Kid Reporters and teaching them about how to write a story and navigating ethical issues and professionalism, I was kind of reborn as a journalist. They allowed me to see journalism through fresh eyes — and reaffirmed my idealism and belief in the profession — at a time when it’s really easy to be cynical about the media. For that I’m eternally grateful.

The Kids Press Corps is a unique program (applications for 2013-14 are being accepted by the way!), and I know I’ll be hard-pressed to have this kind of experience again. It was absolutely singular, and I leave Scholastic feeling extraordinarily fortunate to have had the opportunity to be a part of it. So I want to use this moment to thank not only my colleagues — all the people who write/have written for OOM, my managers, and the people who I’ve worked with in one form or fashion — who trusted me with this massive responsibility. But I also want to say “thank you” to the Kid Reporters I’ve worked with over these past five years. They made my experience at Scholastic an amazing one, and the things I learned from them will continue to resonate with me forever.

Photo: Dante A. Ciampaglia with Kid Reporter Andrew Liang on the floor of the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Be Kind to Animals Week

Here are a few suggestions for how to get involved (from the American Humane Association):

• Adopt an animal from a shelter or rescue
• Take care of your pet
• Appreciate wildlife
• Report animal abuse

For more ideas and resources, check out their Be Kind to Animals Week webpage.

Looking for other ways to celebrate animals with your students or children? We’ve got a ton of resources to share. Check out our animal favorites Pinterest board, our Discover More series (which is all about nature, animals, and life science), and our “Everything you Need” collections for Insects & Bugs and Clifford! And this is a lovely article on how children can learn from pets.

We also want to mention and thank one of our Literacy Champions, Paws for Healing. A few months ago, we shared with you the success of Scholastic’s Fall 2012 reading program, Paws for Reading, which partnered with Paws for Healing and other non-profit organizations to donate 1,000,000 books to kids in need.

We’re proud to call Paws for Healing a Scholastic Literacy Champion. Their community outreach and canine therapy programs provide comfort and help to people of all ages.

A symmetrical vegetable!

In celebration of the much anticipated launch of MATH 180, we encouraged you to join our #MathPics photo contest for some math-focused fun and a chance to win some prizes!

Here are this week’s winners:

1.) One of the most common forms of math in the world: coupons!

2.)Cars and math! 31MPG, 305HP, V6.

3.) Parallel lined on the handicap crossing.

Don’t worry if you haven’t entered yet, you still have ONE more week left to enter for a chance to win some cool prizes! When you see examples of math in the world around you any time between now and May 12, snap a photo and post it to Instagram or Twitter using hashtag #MathPics.

All photos submitted will be judged on originality and creativity; we will pick our favorite three photos each week and award the winners with a “Force Multiplier” T-shirt and the book “Mindset” by Carol Dweck.

GIVEAWAY RULES: Enter the #MathPics contest  for a chance to win a with a “Force Multiplier” T-shirt and the book “Mindset” by Carol Dweck.. To enter, snap a photo and post it to Instagram or Twitter using hashtag #MathPics when you see examples of math in the world around you any time between April 15-May 12. Three winners will be selected from eligible entries each week. Read the official rules here. (Giveaway open to U.S. residents only; must be 18 or older to enter.)

A 2nd grader draws a response to David Shannon’s book Duck on a Bike. She called it “Two Ducks Falling in Love”.

On the first Wednesday of every month, a handful of Scholastic employees — myself included — have the opportunity to visit a New York City elementary school to read aloud to students. We’re all assigned to different classrooms; each month, we bring books to distribute to the students, read a few of the titles aloud, and then spend time working on coloring and/or activity sheets related to the books we just read. The program, Scholastic Reads, is one of my favorite parts about my job, and an experience I look forward to every month.

Here at Scholastic, almost all of what we do and who we are as a company centers on books and education, but on a day-to-day basis it’s easy to forget what things are like in the classroom. Taking that hour and a half once a month to pop in and spend time with the students is a great reminder of why we do what we do, and why it’s so important to encourage kids to read every day.

Education is, and always has been, an incredibly important part of my life. Coming from a family of educators and administrators has only reinforced its importance, and I often find myself wondering what it would be like to be a teacher. I would imagine that teaching, like most professions, comes with both rewards and challenges, and looking back on my K-12 experience, I’m blown away by just how awesome so many of my teachers were. I owe them all a huge thank you. Needless to say, Teacher Appreciation Week seems like a good time to reflect on the fantastic teachers I’ve had over the years, and to note that somewhere along the line, I think I subconsciously absorbed some of their tips and tricks. During my Scholastic Reads visit last week, perched on a wooden chair in front of a group of squirming first-graders, I realized just how much of my own elementary school education I draw upon in situations where I’m in the teacher’s seat.

Some observations:

• I found myself referring to the students as “first-graders” instead of “boys and girls.” Growing up, the principal of our school was the only one who ever called us “boys and girls”; the teachers preferred something more gender-neutral.
• “Quiet Coyote” lives on. You know that hand-signal that teachers make– the one with the pinky- and pointer-fingers up in the air and the middle- and ring-fingers pressed closed onto the thumb? My teachers used to call it “Quiet Coyote”, and raising a hand in the air was a call for silence in the classroom. The teacher in the room I was visiting spoke at regular volume, asking her students to clap once if they could hear her, then twice if they could hear her, and so on. But I definitely had flashbacks to the “Quiet Coyote” days…
• “Raise your hands, please, first-graders.” Never have I ever felt more teacher-like. I loved the enthusiasm the students brought to read aloud, but it’s definitely hard to get a word in when there’s lots of shouting out.
• I’d totally forgotten about the criss-cross applesauce days! Getting to use the phrase “criss-cross applesauce” was something I never thought I’d get to do. And then Scholastic Reads gave me the chance.
• I’m pretty sure this was a tip from The Baby-sitters Club, but when making the rounds as students worked on their coloring sheets, I made sure to ask, “Can you tell me about your picture?” instead of “What are you drawing?” or — lesson learned the hard way — “Is that your family?” (That assignment was “draw something you love”; when I asked a student if he was drawing his family, he looked at me like I had three heads and said, “No, it’s the Power Rangers. Duh.”)

How about you? Are there any tips you’ve picked up from your elementary school teachers? We’d love to hear them in the comments below!

9:00PM, EST: Amy and Allie jump right in with a call for questions.

Parents flooded the wall with inquiries about reading programs, books recommendations, and how to make time for reading when kids’ schedules are packed in the summer with so many other activities.

Many parents also asked about reading aloud vs. reading independently. From one parent: “I have a third grader (going into fourth grade). Is it better if I read to him, have him read out loud to me, or read on his own? He is reading on his own, but still likes me to read to him.”

Allie and Amy’s reply: “All of the above! Having him read on his own and read aloud to you will boost his confidence. And you reading to him will create a special time for you two together. It’s a win-win!”

When asked about how to get younger kids interested in reading, Amy and Allie said, “Give your child as much book choice as you feel comfortable with and make reading fun. Play rhyming games, focus on recognizing familiar names, and ‘environmental print’ (menus, signs etc.. ). Above it all keep it fun!”

9:15PM, EST: Amy and Allie share a fun fact about reading and a question regarding motivation. 

“Fun Fact: Did you know that 99 % of parents think their children should read over the summer? That’s AWESOME right? So I wonder. . . do those 99% of parents actually encourage their children to read? How do you encourage your children to read over the summer?”

And the comments rolled in! Parents are all about encouraging their kids to read in the summer. In fact, they shared some genius ideas for how to do just that:

“My son loves to read! We go to Goodwill together, where all children’s books are $1. He picks the books he enjoys and the reading begins.”

“During the summer we run to the library, join their summer reading program, and then read together every night.”

“We have a ‘Road to Reading’ poster (it has a winding road on it with blocks to fill in with each book read). At the end of the summer, if he has read all of the books he is supposed to and filled in the blocks, he gets a prize.”

“Usually I pick three books (one she can read to me, one I can read to her, and a picture book) around one theme, then find something special to do on the same subject (go to bakery, visit zoo, paint a picture, plant a tree, etc.).”

“I made a shelf on the bookcase where every book is at my 1st graders reading level. I showed her last night ‘her shelf’ and she is excited to pick a few books each day to read. When she reads them all we will make a new shelf for her.”

“We keep books in the car, and pack favorites with us when we travel. We read about our destination from travel guides.”

“Both of my kids love to read right when they get up in the morning. We snuggle on the couch and read a couple of stories.”

9:30PM, EST: Amy and Allie talk about the Scholastic Summer Challenge!

Lots of participating parents said they either loved the free online reading program and are returning this year, or, they had just signed up to try it for the first time! Amy and Allie mentioned the great resources for parents, from book lists to reading pledges and logs, to the Facebook summer reading content calendar. Check them out!

9:40 PM, EST: Amy and Allie share a tip: “Consider bringing books to life by pairing them with a movie, day trip, or follow-up craft!”

9:45 PM, EST: Amy and Allie share a tip: ”Challenge your child to ‘master’ a series this summer! Have him or her read a WHOLE series from start to finish, and celebrate its completion!”

Parents chimed in with their own series recommendations: Magic Tree House, Junie B. Jones, Little House, Dinosaur Cove series, I Survived, and Ghost Buddy.

10:00PM, EST: Amy and Allie sign off for the night. What an incredible event!

Phew! Our heads are still spinning from all the amazing book recommendations, ideas for keeping kids motivated, and how to sneak in reading between summertime activities. Thanks for joining, everyone. And remember, sign up for the Scholastic Summer Challenge to keep the reading momentum going.

We hope that your students will follow Snicket’s advice as they head off for summer vacation. Whether their interests lie with snakes, spiders, or the supernatural, if kids read they won’t have to leave the house to find adventure.

As Donalyn Miller observes in The Book Whisperer: “Readers lead richer lives, more lives, than those who don’t read.” Captain Underpants creator Dav Pilkey agrees.

Avid young readers also tend to be more successful later in life. “Reading—whether Wikipedia, Michael Lewis, or Aristotle—is one of the quickest ways to acquire and assimilate new information,” says John Coleman, author of Passion & Purpose: Stories from the Best and Brightest Young Business Leaders. “Leaders who can sample insights in other fields, such as sociology, the physical sciences, economics, or psychology, and apply them to their organizations are more likely to innovate and prosper.”

Encouraging news, right? Unfortunately, “reading has declined among every group of adult Americans,” according to the National Endowment for the Arts. For the first time in American history, “less than half of the U.S. adult population is reading literature.”

Why does this matter? As Miller told us recently, if we want to create a generation of readers, “they need to see people reading, including parents. They need to understand what a literate life looks like.”

Children who benefit from rich classroom instruction and lots of reading time during the school year, Miller adds, often lose ground during the summer—with dire consequences. Consider these statistics:

• Learning losses during the summer months are cumulative. By the time a struggling reader reaches middle school, summer reading loss results in a two-year lag in reading achievement.
• The “Summer Slide” accounts for as much as 85 percent of the reading achievement gap between lower-income students and their middle- and upper-income peers.
• Third graders who can’t read on grade level are four times less likely to graduate by age 18 than proficient readers.

The 2013 Scholastic Summer Challenge, a free reading program designed to help stop the “Summer Slide,” is a great way to motivate kids to read—and exercise their math muscles at the same time. Last year, kids set a new world record of 95,859,491 minutes read.

Make sure your kids will be ready for back-to-school—and the demands of the Common Core State Standards. You’ll find lots of great resources on our Summer Challenge site, including book recommendations, a reading pledge, and weekly chances to win prizes.

At the end of the summer, the school with the most minutes logged will win a visit from author Dav Pilkey.

Want to be a winner? Ask your students: “Have you read your UNDERPANTS today?”

Today is National Teacher Day!

That said, here are a few ways we’re thanking teachers around the company this week:

• Our Books Clubs team is honoring their favorite literary teachers in this adorable round-up on the Book Box Daily blog. Definitely worth a read!
• Book Clubs has also launched a Teacher Appreciation Sweepstakes! From now until May 10, teachers (K-12) can enter for a chance to win an iPad and a cute tote bag.
• Scholastic Instructor Magazine is celebrating your accomplishments with a limited-time offer: 6 issues of unique Common Core tips, ready-made lessons, and exclusive freebies for just $4.95.
• Dress up your desk with these free printable pages that can be made into an inspiration calendar. You can also print these lovely lines about teaching to hang on your classroom wall.
• NEA has resources you can use to participate, including ways parents can show their appreciation for their child’s teacher, how to make a difference in a teacher’s life, party ideas and student activities, and more.
• You can also thank a teacher on social media using #ThankaTeacher. (Even Obama did on Twitter!) Check out the word cloud you made with all your thoughts about teachers!

Thank you for all you do!

“Teachers, I believe, are the most responsible and important members of society because their professional efforts affect the fate of the earth.” - Helen Caldicott

image via Instructor Magazine.

K-8 Publishers’ Criteria for the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics

One of the key goals of the Common Core State Standards is to encourage and push students to go deeper: to develop stronger skills and greater understanding. This is true for both the math and the language arts standards. The authors feel we live “in a mile-wide, inch-deep world,” and that students need a higher level of achievement, deeper understanding, and the ability to reason and apply their knowledge for success in college and careers.

The word they use over and over to reflect this shift is FOCUS.

The Publishers Criteria for math says this: “We have come to see ‘narrowing’ as a bad word — and it is a bad word, if it means cutting arts programs and language programs. But math has swelled in this country. The standards are telling us that math actually needs to lose a few pounds.”

FOCUS isn’t just in the math standards. The theme is woven throughout the ELA standards too.

In the context of reading, it’s all about a focus on “text”. Text should be central to all student learning, the standards make clear, and through close, careful reading, students are able to develop the knowledge and vocabulary that is so crucial to the learning process.

Is FOCUS a good thing?

I’ve heard the argument that focusing on fewer concepts more deeply could help ensure that fewer students fall behind — since it allows more time for the mastery of concepts that matter most. And it also, in theory, makes for clearer, simpler standards.

But have the standards stripped away anything you feel is important? Let me know what you think!

The epic saga is right at your fingertips! Star Wars Thumb Doodles teaches young Jedis to make thumbprint versions of their favorite characters—from clone troopers and battle droids, to Ewoks and Wookies. Star Wars fans will love re-creating key moments from the movie and designing scenes of their own, like the ultimate battle between Thumb Yoda and Thumb Darth Vader. (Klutz, Ages 8+)

If thumb doodles aren’t your thing, learn to draw like a Jedi Master! When you draw R2-D2, does he look more like a watermelon on roller skates than a cool droid? Does the Yoda you see in your head look nothing like the green blob that ends up on paper? Draw Star Wars: The Clone Wars is packed with tips and techniques, practice space to draw right in the book, and translucent overlays that make tracing a snap. (Klutz Ages 8+)

Looking for some outdoor fun? Try Star Wars Folded Flyers. Make 30 paper starfighters directly from the movie. You can make your own fleet of X-wings, Y-wings, and Millennium Falcons. An awesome added bonus, each book included descriptions of each flyer written by the pilots—where else will you hear Darth Vader describe maneuvering a TIE fighter? (Klutz, Ages 8+)

3-D isn’t just for the movies anymore! Renowned paper engineer Matthew Reinhart brings your favorite Star Wars characters to life with two epic pop-up books, the #1 New York Times bestselling Star Wars: A Pop-up Guide to the Galaxy (Orchard Books, All Ages) and Star Wars: A Galactic Pop-up Adventure (Orchard Books, All Ages). Each book delivers a 3-D experience packed with awesome, in-your-face novelty features. Check out the trailer for Star Wars: A Galactic Pop-Adventure here. 

And there’s more exciting Star Wars fun on the way! Today, EW.com premiered the vidoe trailer for the forthcoming Star Wars: Jedi Academy (Ages 8-12) in an exclusive first look. The new book, by New York Times bestselling author Jeffrey Brown, follows Roan Novachez first year at Jedi Academy under the tutelage of Master Yoda. Look for this new book series wherever books are sold in September 2013.

How did you celebrate May the 4^th? Let us know in the comments!

The Scholastic Summer Challenge is a free online reading program that encourages kids to log the minutes they spend reading during the summer months (from now until September 6, 2013) in an effort to set a new world record in reading! They’ve got a tough record to beat: kids logged a total of 95,859,491  minutes in the summer of 2012.

Here’s how it works: kids can sign up online in just a few easy steps (with the help of a teacher or parent, if necessary). They can choose to read on behalf of their school or they can read and log minutes independently. Either way, the minutes they log will contribute to the total number of minutes read, which we hope will be the NEW reading world record! Plus, new this year: the farther kids read, the more places they’ll go; a new reading meter will match minutes to global landmarks, like the Taj Mahal, Big Ben, The Empire State Building, and Mount Everest! Just this morning, kids have already logged enough minutes to get them on their way to the Colosseum. 

There are some amazing new features and prizes for 2013: The 20 schools with the most minutes logged will be listed in the 2014 Scholastic Book of World Records and will also receive a congratulatory plaque to hang with pride in their school. Plus, the school with the most minutes read at the end of the summer will win a school visit from Captain Underpants creator, Dav Pilkey! 

There’s something for everyone this summer:

For Kids

• Read as many books as possible this summer and log the minutes they spend reading.
• Beat weekly reading milestones and download virtual badges
• Take extra reading challenges to win additional prizes, like downloadable chapter excerpts and audio files.
• Enter sweepstakes for a chance to win cool prizes, like a signed copy of The False Prince, a Harry Potter box set, and more!

For Parents

• Download booklists for every age, featuring recommendations for reluctant readers, best read-alouds, award winners, nonfiction titles, and more. 
• Join a Facebook chat on summer reading, happening TONIGHT, at 9pm EST. RSVP here!
• Check out the summer reading content calendar, which features tips, articles, and book recommendations for every day of the summer. Plus, there’s a giveaway every Friday!
• Download a free Storia eBook when your child registers for the Summer Challenge.

For Teachers

• Send a welcome letter home to parents to emphasize the importance of summer reading.
• Encourage students to sign a reading pledge to signify their commitment to summer reading.
• Bulk register your students and enter for a chance to win a classroom library!
• Stay up to date on your students’ reading progress through your Teacher Dashboard on the Summer Challenge website.

What are you waiting for? Register for the Summer Challenge today! Let’s make this the best summer for reading ever. 

How did you know you wanted to be a librarian?

When I was studying for my undergraduate degree in history, I became interested in how information was organized to be found again.  After many conversations with the subject librarian at my university, I decided that I wanted to go to graduate school for library science instead of history.

What’s the hardest part about being a librarian?

The hardest part for me is trying to overcome the stereotypes of what everyone believes a librarian does.  My job is very technical and requires a great deal more knowledge of IT than most people believe.

Do you still use the Dewey Decimal System in the digital age?

In the Scholastic library, yes I do.  The Dewey Decimal Classification System is at its core a way to arrange books on a shelf according to subject.  This allows for an easily searchable collection.  While the Dewey Decimal System is the most famous of all the classification systems it is not the only one.  It is certainly not without its flaws – I will leave it at that otherwise the answer to this question will get a great deal longer – but it is one that is in most use today, particularly in public libraries.  Academic libraries use the Library of Congress classification system.  There are other classification systems used in specialist libraries that were developed with the needs of their collection in mind.  The Dewey Decimal Classification System is used to classify and shelve physical books and is separate from any digital organization in use today.

Have all librarians gone for their Master’s degree?

Generally people with the job title of Librarian do have a Master’s degree.  This is not a hard and fast rule, however, and there are many wonderful people in the profession who do not have a Master’s in Library or Information Science.  That said, if you are contemplating a career in libraries, a Master’s degree is preferable.

What is the one thing about your job that you wish that you could tell everyone?

It is both harder than you would think and more fun than you imagine it to be.

If you weren’t a librarian, what would you want to do for a living?

Some days in my wildest dreams, I would own a food truck selling homemade soup.  But realistically, I would be a history professor specializing in the social history of the 1960’s which was my original plan.

Any words of wisdom for aspiring librarians?

Become a librarian because you love and find fulfillment in it.  As anyone will tell you this is not a profession in which you will become fabulously wealthy but I can’t imagine doing anything else

I want to thank everyone who submitted a question.  If there is anything else that you would like to ask, feel free to leave a comment.

You might not know it to look at him, but Superman just turned 75 years old. The iconic superhero made his first appearance in Action Comics #1, an anthology comic that was published on April 18, 1938. Nearly eight decades later, you’d be hard-pressed to find someone that doesn’t know at least part of the Superman legend.

Born Kal-El on the planet Krypton, he was rocketed to Earth by his parents to spare him from the imminent destruction of the planet. He landed in Smallville, Kansas, where he was found by Jonathan and Martha Kent, who raised him as their own son, Clark. As he grew up, he discovered he had powers and abilities beyond those of mortal men — he could leap tall buildings in a single bound, outrun locomotives, shoot lasers from his eyes, and fly! — which he put toward saving the world as Superman (that is, when he wasn’t covering the news as mild-mannered reporter Clark Kent).

But perhaps less known are Superman’s earthly origins.

For example, did you know he was created in that far off, exotic land known as Cleveland? Superman’s creators, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, were teenagers living in a Cleveland suburb when they hit upon the idea for the character. After being rejected by one publisher after another, they finally received interest from National Allied Publications — now called DC Comics — who included Superman in the first issue of its new anthology comic. Superman even made the cover, which helped spark the intense reader interest in the character. The rest, as they say, is history.

As the years have flown by, Superman has undergone numerous incarnations and, for a while, it looked like Siegel and Shuster were destined to be overshadowed by their most famous creation. But in the late 1970′s, a group of comic artists, writers, and editors banded together to rescue them from irrelevance. Since then, numerous other creators, as well as fans, have kept their memory and contributions alive.

Superman’s 75th birthday is as good a moment as any to celebrate the Big Blue Boyscout — as well as the men who gave him life. Cleveland did just that last month when they proclaimed April 18, 2013, Superman Day in the city. Kid Reporter Mahathi Venkatesh attended the event and spoke with Siegel and Shuster’s relatives, the mayor of Cleveland, and members of the Siegel and Shuster Society about the city’s role in the creation of Superman and the legacies of the men who dreamed him up. Check her story out on the Scholastic News Kids Press Corps website. It’s a great read, and a cool look at Superman’s secret origins!

Superman’s popularity has ebbed and flowed over the years, but the character remains as iconic as ever. The iconic Superman logo can be found on everything from t-shirts to hats to shoes, he appears in at least three monthly comic books, and is perhaps the most identifiable comic book character on the planet. And with a new movie, Man of Steel, hitting theaters this summer, Superman shows no signs of being ready to hang up the cape.

Photo: Cover of Action Comics #1 (courtesy DC Comics)

It’s not a secret — you don’t have to be a teen to read YA.

As longtime fans of young adult literature, we at Scholastic are thrilled that more and more adults are finding great stories in a section previously reserved for teens, and that teens themselves are reading YA in record numbers!

We wanted to spread the love for YA even further, and encourage fellow YA-fanatics to be loud and proud about their reading tastes. So, this month, we will begin an ongoing campaign for readers of all ages to state proudly: I read YA!

 Join in the movement by tweeting what you’re reading @this_is_teen using #IreadYA. Each week throughout the month of May, we’ll be picking three winners to receive an I read YA tote back stuffed with seven of our favorite YA titles!

We hope you’re excited as we are to engage with other book lovers, and hopefully get some great book recommendations to add to your “To Read” lists! We can’t wait to hear from you on Twitter. Spread the word: We all read YA!

Each year, the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers awards teens from across the country. The National Awards winners travel to New York City for a breathtaking awards ceremony. (You can see some amazing examples of the award-winning work right here.) Alana Benoit from the Alliance is here with some news about this year’s event — which is also the 90th anniversary of the Awards!

For the first time ever, in celebration of our 90th Anniversary, the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards will webcast the 2013 National Awards Ceremony LIVE from Carnegie Hall on May 31 at 6:00 p.m. EST/3:00 p.m. PST. That means YOU can join in! We’re working hard to make this event extra special for everyone, including those who are unable to be at Carnegie Hall. We’re broadcasting this event with all of you in mind!

On May 31, we will be joined by special guests Sarah Jessica Parker and Zac Posen to honor National Awards winners from across the country; recognizing their achievement and the commitment of teachers, friends and supporters that help make the Awards possible. We hope you’ll share this incredible moment with us by watching the Ceremony on our Webcast page.

You can also salute these talented students and engage your community around this one-time only event by hosting a Local Webcast Celebration! We’ve created a toolkit overflowing with fun tips and ideas to make planning a local event a success, no matter how large or small. If you have questions while reviewing this guide or organizing your event, email us at webcast@artandwriting.org. And be sure to tweet about the Awards and our 90th Anniversary Webcast using the hashtag #AWawards!

We’re continually inspired by the work we do and are thrilled to have the opportunity to celebrate the creative talents of young people.

We hope you’ll join us — from New York City with love!

Big TV news today: we’ve been nominated for three Emmy Awards!

WordGirl received two nominations for ‘Outstanding Children’s Animated Program’ and ‘Outstanding Writing in Animation’ (Tom Martin and Eric Shaw Head Writers; Jack Ferraiolo, Jayne Hamil and Ryan Raddatz Writers). These are the ninth and tenth Emmy award nominations for everyone’s favorite master of vocabulary which, earned Emmy Award wins for ‘Outstanding Writing in Animation’ in 2008 and 2012. (By the way, now in its fifth season on PBS KIDS, WordGirl has also won three Gracie awards, a Television Critics Award for ‘Outstanding Achievement in Children’s Animation,’ a Kidscreen Award for Best Voice Talent, and an iParenting Media Award.)

Chuck Vanderchuck received a nomination for ‘Outstanding New Approaches/Original Daytime Program or Series.’ Chuck Vanderchuck’s “Something Something” Explosion is an interactive online web series on PBSKIDSGO.ORG aimed at helping kids understand music and music composition through online episodes and integrated games and activities on the web; it’s produced by Scholastic Media/Soup2Nuts.

In each webisode, kids get to be a member of the band, interacting with Chuck, the lead singer and main creative force behind the band who dreams BIG, and Ramona, Chuck’s band mate who helps make his big ideas into reality. Chuck and Ramona present different musical genres including Salsa, Jazz, Rock, Country, and Reggae. Children learn about different instruments used for each musical style, and play games through which they will have the chance to identify instruments, write lyrics, compose melodies, create costumes, and play in a virtual concert. Specific areas explored include basic rhythmic and melodic patterns, as well as geography and cultural lessons related to music genres.

We’ll definitely be tuning in to the Awards on June 16. Congratulations to all!

This quote is a favorite of mine. It’s also become one of the guiding principles behind the development of our new MATH 180 program.

It says something very fundamental about the way we learn and what motivates us as humans to work hard at something. If we sense something is out of our reach, why reach for it? If we expect to fail at math or at any task, why even try?

You might be aware Carol Dweck’s research on mindsets (growth mindset vs. fixed mindset) that shows how our individual understandings of intelligence and abilities can have a dramatic effect on how we learn and how motivated we are to tackle difficult work. Brain scientists have clearly shown how malleable and changeable our brains are — that even as adults we have the ability to grow our intelligence and learn new things. But for many of us (and many students), rather than having a “growth mindset,” we believe our intelligence and abilities are “fixed.” Carol Dweck has shown that most of us have a fixed mindset about some things, and growth mindsets about others.

Turns out that students very often get stuck in MATH because they have a “fixed mindset” about it — and this is true about math more-so than any other subject. Have you ever said this to someone? “I’m not a math person.”

So, if you’re a student struggling with fractions and you think you’re just not a math person, why bother trying? Why bother working hard?

Recognizing this, the team that built MATH 180, an intervention program for students who struggle with math, has focused not just on creating a system that helps students rebuild math skills and understanding, but also shift students from a fixed mindset to a growth mindset.

There’s a lot we can do to help convince students to RUN FOR THE BUS. One thing is to demonstrate evidence of success to them right from the beginning. Shaky confidence + early failure = total shutdown for students, says our David Dockterman. Then provide a gradual slope toward greater difficulty.

All students, he says, should be working in the space between “I’m bored” and “I can’t.”

Just added are photos from Can You See What I See: Out of This World, including a look at the Time Traveler and the Early Morning puzzles. I can’t decide which one I find more impressive — the huge scale of the robot, or the attention to detail of the sleeping princess!

You may remember that a while back, Walter even built one of his sets right in our Scholastic Store window! You can find those photos and a great video interview with Walter right here.

Here are the winners for the second week:

1.) Math is everywhere, even on my floor home from school! Patterns, angles, lines, shapes.

2.) Geometric shapes!  

3.) The lottery: one in (several) million.

Don’t worry if you haven’t entered yet, you still have two more weeks left to enter for a chance to win some cool prizes! When you see examples of math in the world around you any time between now and May 12, snap a photo and post it to Instagram or Twitter using hashtag #MathPics.

All photos submitted will be judged on originality and creativity; we will pick our favorite three photos each week and award the winners with a “Force Multiplier” T-shirt and the book “Mindset” by Carol Dweck.

GIVEAWAY RULES: Enter the #MathPics contest  for a chance to win a with a “Force Multiplier” T-shirt and the book “Mindset” by Carol Dweck.. To enter, snap a photo and post it to Instagram or Twitter using hashtag #MathPics when you see examples of math in the world around you any time between April 15-May 12. Three winners will be selected from eligible entries each week. Read the official rules here. (Giveaway open to U.S. residents only; must be 18 or older to enter.)

We’ll update this post as the discussion begins. Some thoughts to get you started:

• How would you describe the world of The Summer Prince?
• What role does art play in this book? What role does technology play?
• In what ways is Palmares Tres similar to today? In what ways is it different?

Stay tuned! And, join us on Twitter at #summerprince.

 And the discussion has begun!

 The book’s editor, Arthur A. Levine, has just joined us too!

• Jess is leading the discussion and begins by noticing how this book — while a YA, a dystopian, a book about art, love, rebellion — is, at its core, a book about relationships.
• What stuck out for you from this book? Some of us in the room are noting: the fluid approach to sexuality; the idea that skin color and age still were issues even though sexuality wasn’t; language.
• Let’s talk about language! One participant here says they sometimes felt like they weren’t in on the joke because of the specific language used in this title. Did any of you feel that way?
• In response, Arthur says, “A writer in speculative fiction orscifi has to strike a delicate balance. How much is too much alienation? How much would explaining it all upfront ruin the flow of the scene?”
• General consensus in the room: This book showed some great examples of an author not sticking to the stereotypical “rival” relationships you can find in YA.
• How did death factor into this title? How did the author use science fiction to demonstrate the ways we all have to face our mortality and that of our families?
• “There’s a lot of stuff going on in this book,” says an employee here in the room. “How much time do we have to talk about it all?” What do you think? What’s the “stuff” happening in the book? 
• How about setting? A friend on Twitter mentions that setting The Summer Prince in futuristic Brazil was intriguing, because most dystopians are set in the US. How did you feel about the setting?
• Also on Twitter, someone asked Arthur what drew him to the manuscript. He says: “The incredible breadth of her intellect, and that she didn’t allow that to overwhelm the emotional story. To have a book that’s so thought provoking, has so much intellectual weight, in a story with characters you care about is incredibly impressive.”
• On the cover: how much did it draw you in? The cover model is the exact combination of races that June, the main character, is. “We really wanted to get it right,” says Arthur.  
• What role does art play in this book? How would you feel if your mood was broadcast on your arms the way it is for June?
• How does the shape of Palmares Tres influence your perceptions of the book? The city is a pyramid. The smells and shapes and sounds of the levels are vividly described.
• Enki gets called “the summer prince” midway through the book…but he’s actually the Summer King. What’s the symbolism there?
• June has a deep, deep love for her city of Palmares Tres. That’s something you don’t see a lot of in YA — a teenager who loves the city she’s from.
• The friendship between June and Gil is special, too. He didn’t put his name in for the summer prince election because he could never abandon June the way her father did.
• We the readers see June’s insecurities even when June herself doesn’t. “The author takes a lot of risks by making June be as unsympathetic as she is for most of the book,” says Arthur.
• “The great thing about books: you bring yourself into the reading of the book, and you take what the author gives you.” – Arthur  

 Final thoughts: where is June in five years? Has she changed her city for the better?

Fact: 

Studies show that reading during the summer months isn’t something kids simply should do, it’s something they need to do. We know it can be difficult to get kids motivated to read, especially when they are out of school and subject to so many distractions (Summer camp! Baseball games! Pool parties!) That’s why we’ve built a program that not only provides parents, teachers, and kids with helpful resources to encourage summer reading, but one that gets kids truly excited to read every day. First and foremost, the Scholastic Summer Challenge is fun. That’s why thousands of kids participate each year to set a new world record in reading (which was an impressive 95,859,491 minutes last year, by the way). And guess what? The 2013 Summer Challenge begins in one week! That means that on Monday May 6, 2013, kids will begin logging their reading minutes and will continue to do so all summer long. We can’t wait to see how much they read! 

If you haven’t registered your kids yet, do so now. On the website, you’ll find more information on the program details as well as an abundance of resources to keep kids motivated all summer long, from book recommendations, to a reading pledge, to weekly chances to win cool prizes.

Remember, May 6th can mark the start of something wonderful for your kids and your students—it can be the day they pledge their commitment to reading. Join us!

We all respond to tragedies like Sandy in different ways: some volunteer to deliver supplies to those in need; others pledge their time to disaster-relief organizations or donate money to organizations like the Red Cross. And some respond with art or writing that beautifully encapsulates the experience itself.

This year marks the 90th anniversary of the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, the nation’s longest-running recognition program for creative teens, and the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers (the nonprofit that administers the Awards) received dozens of submissions that dealt with Superstorm Sandy and its aftermath. One such piece was by Leigh Brooks, a 12-year-old student in 7th grade at Brooklin School in Brooklin, ME, who received a Gold Key for poetry in the 2013 Scholastic Art & Writing Awards. As National Poetry Month draws to a close, we thought it’d be a perfect time to share Leigh’s poem:

Hurricane Sandy

Hurricane Sandy

A behemoth of a storm

Travels her slow path across the Gulf of Mexico

Intent on the juicy prize: the New England coast

Cities lie far away in the distance,

She tires of water,

She hungers for the feast of buildings

The crunchy cold concrete, the white-washed walls

She makes her way

onto the coast’s edge,

Until finally, she can reach her goal:

The tantalizing stew of human colonization

Many mouths

On long necks

Sprout from her mass and down toward the land.

Where they sink their teeth deep into the great cities

She lingers for days,

Feasting on human suffering

She pours their tears back down to them

And whips their miserable cries through their darkened streets

She leaves at last

Gorged to bursting

Full of sadness and greed

The only food left for a hungry storm

Emotion is food only for a time

Soon it will blow her apart

She leaves the ocean completely and travels inland, where humans rule

And they pour the last of their misery into her

It is too much,

She cannot hold it all,

So she crumbles to pieces in the place

Where the graves of her brethren lie

She is no more

The mighty storm

Is yet another flicker

In the short memories of humans.

Do you use poetry to cope with tragedy? Be sure to share your thoughts in the comments below.

Image via USACE HQ