Reading Rumpus: Serendipitous Finds

On The Reading Is Awesome Front:

Fantastic video of Eric Carle discussing his technique from Scholastic (via Omnivoracious)

Library usage is up! (From The National Children's Book & Literacy Alliance

By now, we've all seen the wonderful work of the Cybils committe. Jen Robinson has made a request that we buy some books through the Cybils site to show our support of these important kidlitosphere awards.

Wonderful discussion on Magical Realism (my very favorite genre!) over on The Spectacle.

On The Education Front:

Got a teen in your life looking to earn some scholarship money? Check out this cool opportunity! From the site: "The Lexus Eco Challenge is a life-changing opportunity for teens across the nation to make a difference in the environmental health of our planet, one community at a time."

Teachers! Got a great idea, but no money to get it off the ground?
Here's a couple grant opportunities for you: ING Unsung Heroes and the especially cool Music Is Revolution site. Even though the latter is a music grant, it looks like they'd be open to innovative ideas incorporating reading and music skills (FYI: very similar skills).

Also check out the National Center For Family Literacy/Dollar General grant opportunities for adult & family literacy initiatives.

Another neat reading initiative aimed at encouraging community volunteerism, the Cracker Barrel Rockin' Readers program is worth look-see (both via The Reading Tub).

Excellent Washington Post article on nationalizing educational standards. Read toward the bottom to see the difference between completely nationalized everything and a consensus of knowledge we all must know. Many people are surprised to learn that the U.S. doesn't already have nationalized standards (though voluntary guides do exist).

However, before I start singing praises to The Washington Post, I want to lead you to an article questioning 21st Century Literacies HERE and the follow-up HERE from The Partnership for 21st Century Skills. The article questioning the need for 21st Centruy Skills makes some good points about teachers not being trained and students lagging behind in basics without adding more curriculum. However, as a mouthy proponent of 21st Century Skills & Literacies, I say we must begin somewhere at sometime.

The University of Chicago published an impressive report on early gesturing and school readiness.

Exactly what I've been preaching about in regards to 21st Century Literacies: Why Librarians Are Better Than Rock Gods(via Reading Rockets)

Like many folks, I've been catching parts of the 'Scholastic is a sellout for selling toys argument.' I've used Scholastic book flyers, frequently visit the Scholastic store and LOVE their website. Librarilly Blonde said it best: HERE

LOVE LOVE LOVE this idea. Parent Information Resource Centers in schools. (via Reading Rockets)

On A Personal Note:

I want to win Something Maybe by Elizabeth Scott from Abby (the) Librarian!

The Millions sent me back to my college English minor days with their diagramming of Obama's sentence structure. I tremble at the very thought!

OH! The Longstockings reminded me of a book I'd been looking for and then forgot all about...

I saved the most important for last:

A great blogger, who also happens to like books though she blogs about personal writer stuff, has started a new site near and dear to her heart: Violence Unsilenced. From Maggie's about page: "... Domestic violence and sexual assault affect everyone they touch in myriad ways. The idea here is to enlighten the blogosphere on just how pervasive this problem is. It is all around us, and it is my sincere belief that we can conquer domestic violence and sexual assault by dragging them out of the shadows and into the light." Since most of us have either known someone or been a victim ourselves, you might want to go check it out.
____________________________________________________________