Mary Beth lost her seemingly healthy 20-year-old son, Max, to sudden cardiac death (SCD) in 2005. The Foundation that bears his name raises funds for the research and prevention of SCD, providing free EKG testing to high school students. More than 10,000 teens have been screened to date and 142 teens have been identified as at risk, enabling them to take action to prevent SCD.

The Foundation also supports conservation and preservation of fragile species and ecosystems because this was Max’s passion and path in life. His particular interest was in reptiles due to his sympathy and compassion for misunderstood animals. He shared his knowledge, experience, and enthusiasm at the Lake Forest Wildlife Discovery Center.

Within our critique group, Mary Beth is the Queen of upper teens, mysteries, and synopses. She’s a powerful plotter with a sharp wit who keeps us all honest and on our toes.

Congratulations, Mary Beth!

I hope you’ll post images of the bookmarks you stitch in our Flickr pool. Note that one of the group rules is that posting there gives me permission to re-post your images here.

We have two more participants in the 2010 Bookmark Challenge! The Day Lilies chapter of EGA in Medina, OH, has been stitching bookmarks for Project: LEARN, a local adult literacy program. Kat, owner of Cross Eyed Kat and designer of a Stitching for Literacy bookmark pattern, Bookmarks and Banners, is taking charge of filling a request for bookmarks from a local library.

If Kat can do it, you can, too! We’re still looking for partners for libraries and schools in these areas:

Los Angeles, CA
Los Angeles, CA
Gainesville, GA
Decatur, GA
Mooresville, IN
Roanoke, IN
Cumberland, ME
Birmingham, MI
Ringwood, NJ
Memphis, TN
Nashville, TN
Houston, TX
Highlands, TX
Bullard, TX
Victoria, Australia

Do you have some stitching friends? Why not ask them to adopt a library or school with you? If you’re game, give me shout, and I’ll help you get started. (My email address is in the sidebar, you know.) Together, we can do this!

Woot, Kat and Day Lilies in Medina!

Round 1
• Charles and Emma
• Fire
• The Last Olympian
• The Lost Conspiracy
• Marcelo in the Real World
• A Season of Gifts
• Sweethearts of Rhythm
• When You Reach Me

Round 2

• Fire
• The Last Olympian
• A Season of Gifts
• When You Reach Me

Round 3

• Fire
• A Season of Gifts

Round 4

• Undead: The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate
• Winner: The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate

Well, now, that was interesting! When I first looked at the list of 16, I picked out Fire and Marcelo in the Real World as likely winners. But as I went through each round, considering the stories and the judges I wound up…well, here, with the Undead swooping in and taking it all in the end. In fact, in my head, Fire comes in third behind A Season of Gifts. My own personal tastes played less of a role than I would have expected. A book I wouldn’t let out of Round 1 goes on.

If I’m waffling on one, it’s M. T. Anderson. I’ve read a number of his books, and my sense is he’s all over the map in terms of taste. (Feed, Octavian Nothing, Burger Wuss, Whales on Stilts) Normally, I’d celebrate that, but it makes him unpredictable here. I can imagine him pitching Fire out the window. I can also imagine that one being a popular candidate for the Undead vote.

Christopher Paul Curtis, on the other hand, has got to choose A Season of Gifts, don’t you think? Assuming it makes it to Round 2. Bud, Not Buddy, The Watsons Go to Birmingham – 1963, Elijah of Buxton…come on!

It turns out I’m most interested in the individual judges’ choices and what guides their choices, not which books actually win the rounds. Having made it onto the list of sixteen makes them all winners…gak.

These are my picks, and I’m sticking with them! Go, Calpurnia!

Winners from the Literacy: Off the Beaten-Path post from the Share a Story, Shape a Future Literacy Blog Tour are

Tif and Kristie

Please send your mailing addresses to

mail [AT] funkandweber [DOT] com

ASAP so I can get your Puzzle Bears books in the mail.

Thanks to everyone who followed the tour!

I can’t wait to see this!

Thanks to Fuse #8 for the heads up.

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?

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?

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.

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.

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’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?