It’s back! School Library Journal’s Battle of the (Kids’) Books–aka BoB–gets underway on Monday, March 15. Sixteen of the best books published in 2009 will go head-to-head, being read and judged by celebrities of KidLit. There will be a match every weekday until one book stands alone on April 5.

I’m going to pay close attention this year because next year, I think we should have a Battle of the Bookmarks–maybe simultaneously. (Are you listening, Alan?)

The Opening Ceremony is on now. I recommend using the weekend to get the lay of the land before the battle starts.

There are a couple of ways you can participate. First, vote in the Undead Poll. This poll will enable one book that gets eliminated to return in the final round. So, if you have a favorite, vote for it here in case it gets eliminated by some misguided judge. I really hope my pick doesn’t need to be Undead.

Next, make your predictions and fill out a bracket. I’ll post mine here on Sunday. Anyone want to make it interesting? Say…winner gets some sort of stash surprise?

Here’s the deal: Fill out the entire bracket. We’re not re-setting rounds once we know winners; we’re picking them all up front. If all your first-round picks go down, well, we’ll call your score “love,” how’s that? You get one point for each correct pick in Round 1, two points for each correct pick in Round 2, three points for each correct pick in Round 3, and four points for a correct pick in Round 4. Yes, you should pick an Undead Book for round 4. Your Undead Book pick is worth three points if you get it right.

Post your picks in the comments on Sunday.

If one of you wins, I’ll send you a stash surprise, but not until the end of April. If I win, all players will have to PAY…me a compliment. In the event of a tie, we’ll turn to the handy random number generator.

What? You haven’t read all those books? Gasp!

So? Me neither. Not yet, anyway. While I anticipate reading them all, I don’t think having them read by Monday provides that much advantage. It’s more useful to be a mind-reader or maybe to think about the judges’ own books to get a sense of their tastes. Or pick the books with the longest titles, or the most vowels, or best covers.

Uh-oh. Am I giving away my March Madness secrets?

The readergirlz bookmark tutorial is up! There’s still time to order a kit, so if you know a readergirl who might be interested, send her a link.

And now here’s an idea for all you already-stitchers. In the intro video and tutorial, I encourage readergirlz to stitch an extra bookmark or two to include in the books they drop on April 15 for Operation Teen Book Drop. Well, how ’bout we do the same thing? The pattern pdf is available on the readergirlz blog. You can go grab it, too. (Yes, you have to go there to get it.)

These clip bookmarks stitch up fast, and they’re small enough that you can use scraps to make them. Seriously, I stitched five while listening to programs during the 24-hour Bookmark Collectors’ Virtual Convention, and I was looking at slides simultaneously. And I’m a super-slow stitcher!

Stitch up a bookmark, stick it in a YA book–along with a bookplate (download, print, and glue it inside the cover or clip it to the front with the handy-dandy clip bookmark) explaining that the book is free for the taking–and leave the book someplace a teen is likely to find it.

We’ll make this part of the Bookmark Challenge, too. Every rgz bookmark you stitch and drop with a book on April 15 will count in our Bookmark Challenge total. You just have to remember to tell me about it. Or better still, take and send pictures. My email address is in the sidebar, you know.

Two great causes = Too much fun! Remember how much fun I had taking books to the mall in Anchorage last year? I included bookmarks in those, too.

Happy Stitching!

Hmm, what books shall I drop this year?

A puzzle book filled with natural history facts, jokes, and images of Alaska.

The Share a Story, Shape a Future theme today is Literacy Your Way, Literacy My Way.

As the theme suggests, there is more than one path to literacy. Reading with kids may be the expressway, but there are scenic byways that offer fresh views and fun while still getting us there. Puzzles are a scenic byway that shouldn’t be missed.

Puzzles–math, word, logic, you name it–approach words, ideas, and literacy in a roundabout way. They highlight the drama of language, the absurdities, the bizarre, and the fun. Puzzles tease us, make us laugh, challenge us, and surprise us. In short, they entertain us while leading us to our destination: literacy.

Just as a Sunday drive is associated with recreation and relaxation, puzzles are associated with games and play, even though they require reading, understanding, and following instructions. They are short excursions into brain work–they don’t require a huge commitment of time, and the reward comes quickly. As kids attempt more difficult puzzles, they build the stamina that reading longer books requires.

When kids solve puzzles they learn to play with words. They get comfortable with them and enjoy them. They learn that sometimes words don’t mean what they seem to mean and that sometimes they can mean more than one thing. Discovering the complexity of words introduces kids to their beauty, revealing what’s clever and what’s funny. When kids embrace words as play things, they aren’t intimidated by them.

Like unfamiliar roads, puzzles have an air of mystery. We don’t know where they’re going, but we’re eager to find out. In the process of solving the mystery, kids learn how to think.

Puzzles can help pre- and early-readers develop letter recognition and writing skills and build vocabulary. Solving more advanced puzzles requires critical and creative thinking: developing and using logic, reasoning, fluency, associative thinking, and identifying forced relationships.

The challenges posed by puzzles can encourage us to step back and take a panoramic view of a problem, searching for a new perspective. Learning to try different approaches and to see things from new angles teaches kids flexible thinking and persistence, useful skills as they tackle more difficult words and text.

I approach puzzles from the opposite direction: I write them. Making puzzles is as fun, mysterious, and surprising as solving them. It’s the same adventure, just in reverse. I start with an answer–riddles and trivia are great puzzle fodder–then select a puzzle style that fits the answer: is it a one-word answer, a sentence, a shape or picture, a number? From there I work backward to generate the necessary clues, seeking out twists and turns to challenge puzzle solvers.

We all want kids to reach a place where they can read and write effectively. How they get there doesn’t matter. Providing alternate routes entices more kids to find their way.

How do we improve kids’ chances for success and thereby improve the world? By way of literacy. Be sure to include puzzles in your itinerary.

Here are a few to start you on your way. Print and play!

Stick with the Funny Stuff
Laugh Lines
Alpha-Bat
At the Zoo
Word Combination

Answers to all the puzzles.

A Contest!

What’s a blog tour without a contest here and there?

I’ve got two Alaska Puzzle Bears books up for grabs. The puzzles–about Alaska’s three bears–are geared toward kids aged 6 – 10, and there are coloring pages, too, by Alaskan artist, Shannon Cartwright. Leave me a G-rated joke in the comments for a chance to win one of the books. Can you believe it?! I’m not making you solve a puzzle to win! Winners will be randomly chosen on Saturday, March 13. Please leave your email or a link to your blog, unless you promise to be back on Saturday to see if you’ve won.

A bookmark by Marion Scoular. I have two of these, and I am sorely tempted to keep one. But now that I’ve said it out loud, I won’t. I promise to pass them both on to deserving young readers.

The Monday “What have you done lately?” accountability post, where I announce my Needle and Thread: Stitching for Literacy program promotion goal for the week and fess up on last week’s goal.

Last week, my goal was to make yet another stitchy video. Wonder of wonders–I did! Mike helped, editing 462 images for me, with 20 clicks, a few scrolls, and some numbers typed for each. It’s all put together, finished, in the can, converted to a .wmv file, ready to upload. I’m surprised and excited!

I sent the video tutorial and pdf pattern to Melissa for the readergirlz. Girlz have another week to order a kit (send your name and mailing address to readergirlz [AT] gmail [dot] come), and I’ll be available to answer questions via the readergirlz blog or email. (My email address is in the sidebar, you know!)

All that’s left is writing a press release, getting things updated around here, and then stitching and enjoying the Challenge. I’m so excited to see and hear about the bookmarks being stitched and submitted. I hope to get in touch with some of the teachers and librarians who put the bookmarks to use so that we can all see some of the effects of our efforts.

And those are my goals for this week and for the duration of the Challenge. This is the last Update post until after the Challenge.

What do you think? Did we make some progress as a result of weekly goals?

Alan, the Bookmark Collector (both the physical kind and the electronic kind) and the main brain behind the Bookmark Collectors’ Virtual Convention, left this comment after I wondered about steampunk embroidery. Since not everyone reads comments, I’m re-posting it here because I want everyone to see it.

Alan’s comment altered to make live links:

Oh Jen – you’ve tapped into yet another hobby of mine -

Urban Threads

Brass Goggles

Random Acts of Mediocrity

etsy:

Embroidered vest

Tatooed heart embroidery

Steampunk embroidered airship patch

fashion:

General intro to steampunk fashion

crochet:

Crochet sculpture

Oh, OH, OH! I want to make art embroidery! It won’t be Steampunk, mind you–I don’t know what it would be…puzzles or nature or ???–but it would be different from what I usually do.

Seriously. I’m going to start…soon.

Can’t wait to see what you stitch, Alan. Have you started?

Share a Story, Shape a Future. Logo art by Elizabeth Dulemba.

The Share a Story, Shape a Future week-long Literacy Blog Tour starts on Monday (March 8 – 14). This year’s theme is It Takes a Village to Raise a Reader.

Every day is hosted by a different blog and has it’s own theme.

• M: The Many Faces of Reading
  Host: Terry Doherty @Scrub-a-Dub-Tub
• Tu: Literacy My Way/Literacy Your Way
  Host: Susan Stephenson @the Book Chook
• W: Just the Facts: The Nonfiction Book Hook
  Host: Sarah Mulhern @The Reading Zone
• Th: Reading Through the Ages: Old Faves & New Classics
  Host: Donalyn Miller @the Book Whisperer
• F: Reading for the Next Generation
  Host: Jen @Jen Robinson’s Book Page

I talked about and attended this event last year, and wanted to be involved this year. Though I never got around to helping with the planning, organizers are allowing me to participate in the tour anyway. My post here on Tuesday will address Literacy My Way/Literacy Your Way.

So how do you take a blog tour?

Start by visiting the Share a Story blog every day.

There will be an ongoing discussion there based on questions posted daily. In addition, there will be a link to that day’s theme Host. The Host will then have a list of links to posts addressing that theme.

Got it? Good!

Look for something special here on Tuesday.

The readergirlz outreach program is officially under way. The first video inviting girlz to request kits is up.

The second video–the tutorial–is finished as is the pdf pattern and instructions. As usual, I want to proof them another thirty-nine times before handing them over.

Making the tutorial showed me why there are studios and professional equipment. My little camera and I have limitations! With that in mind, it’s all right. I think it will serve its purpose.

Can you think of a teen girl who would enjoy chatting about books and learning to stitch a bookmark? Send her to the readergirlz.

This month’s book is Leviathan, by Scott Westerfeld. It’s categorized as steampunk. “What’s steampunk,” you ask? According to Wikipedia, it’s “a sub-genre of science fiction and speculative fiction, frequently featuring elements of fantasy, that came into prominence in the 1980s and early 1990s.”

The readergirlz offer us some views into the steampunk world. I guess I’ll be learning something new this month, too!

Huh…I wonder if anyone’s doing steampunk embroidery?

Do you suppose we’ll ever have a national holiday celebrating Dr. Seuss? I mean, we have National Hotdog Month.

Dr. Seuss taught me to read. Nowadays early readers are abundant, but I don’t remember any books but Dr. Seuss’s from my preschool days. Were there any others?

My sister inherited the family collection, but her children are old now, so I’m thinking maybe I’m due for another turn with them.

I’d be hard-pressed to single out a favorite. I liked them all: the bright colors, even if there were only two; the made-up silly words; the rhymes; the funny stories. But I have strong memories of a few in particular. One is, I think, a lesser-known Seuss tale: I Wish That I Had Duck Feet.

I guess I always had a keen interest in animals, so it makes sense that I’d be drawn to a book about a kid wishing to have various animal parts. I wished for a few myself, though never for that long, long tail.

The thing that I remember most, though, was thinking that the boy in the book got it wrong in the end. It’s not better to just be ourselves; who was he kidding? It would be far better to have an animal part or two, provided you chose the parts wisely. It would be even better to have animal parts you could take off and put on. That’s the way it was in my book, you see.

You know what I wanted? Monkey feet and a telescoping giraffe neck. What, I ask you, is the down side to those?

Is there a lesser-known Dr. Seuss book that stands out for you? Which one?

A bookmark by Maureen, finished in the Bookmarks 101: Simple, Smart, and Swanky Finishes class at The Stitchers’ Village. This pattern was Maureen’s least favorite of the first batch she did, but I like it. Kids are into everything! I know there’s a bug-lover out there who will love to have this.

You know what this reminds me of? I have an Alaska flower identification book I used as a natural history guide that has oodles of smashed mosquitoes in it. In some areas, I couldn’t open and close the book without trapping several of the things.

I’d way-yonder rather have this bookmark between the pages than all those smooshed skeeters.

The Monday “What have you done lately?” accountability post, where I announce my Needle and Thread: Stitching for Literacy program promotion goal for the week and fess up on last week’s goal.

Last week, my goal was to start gathering current info about events and contests taking place during this year’s Challenge. Thanks to the inclusion of the word “start,” I can call this goal accomplished. I’ve started!

I also wanted to finish the how-to-stitch video tutorial for the readergirlz event. Done! What an undertaking–it nearly killed me! Okay, that’s an exaggeration. Remember all my raving about the three-minute I-Heart-You Earrings video? Well, this video is ten minutes. Yeah-huh. I still need to polish and proof everything, but the hard parts are done.

In other news, I’m assembling posts and guest bloggers for this year’s Challenge. In the past, it’s been my goal to post something relevant to stitching and reading every day during the Challenge. This year, I aim to make it more interesting and fun by inviting others to participate. If you have something you’d like to share–a personal story about learning to read or stitch, teaching someone to read or stitch, an explanation of what happens in our bodies chemically while we stitch…–please email me.

In particular, I’m looking for Extreme Reader and Extreme Stitcher stories and images. These are stories that demonstrate just how far we’re willing to go to enjoy reading and stitching. If you’ve ever done anything kind of nutty just to read or stitch, I want to hear about it!

Send your stories to me at

mail [AT] funkandweber [DOT] com

That address is in the sidebar now, you know.

All right. This week, my goal is to–brace yourselves–create one more video. Uh…yep. It’s true. This one is to kick off the Bookmark Challenge. We’re setting up a new studio for it tonight. I’ll be working on it in the wee hours of morning while it’s dark outside. That’s all you’re getting for a hint. It won’t be all that long before you see it.

Do you realize the Challenge officially starts in seventeen days? Geez-o-pete, who’s running this thing?!

You have got to see this! A needleworker records her life in cross stitch.

Hats off, Jean!

I aspire to a giant project. No idea yet what the theme will be.

Thanks to Monique for pointing this out to me on Facebook.