Category Archives: literacy

June 26, 2012   Brenna   book club, Brenna, classics, feedback, literacy, news, reading  
4

Redemption through Reading

Brazil made headlines yesterday for introducing a new program to reduce prison sentences, aptly titled “Redemption through Reading”. According to this article from the Huffington Post, inmates in Brazil’s federal prisons can now minimize their sentences by up to 48 days per year by reading one book every four weeks, then writing an essay on it.

While there’s no shortage of literacy programs in prisons all over the world, I thought this was the first case where it actually had a concrete impact on a person’s punishment, but I was wrong. After a little searching online, I found Changing Lives Through Literature, a rehabilitation course introduced in the early 90’s in Massachusetts as an alternative to prison. Created for repeat offenders of serious crimes, this initiative forms reading groups where offenders discuss the classics.  It has proved to significantly reduce recidivism rates and violent behavior among participants.

Avid readers know that literature has the ability to change lives, but these programs bring this concept to fruition. By reading about characters and situations they can relate to, convicts get the chance to look at their own lives, and the way they affect others, through a different lens. They also develop skills to analyze, articulate, and communicate more effectively, equipping them with the ability to make more positive contributions to society.

Does anyone here have experience working in this capacity in the penal system?

March 07, 2012   Brenna   Brenna, children's books, fun, future of publishing, literacy, reading  
10

World Read Aloud Day

I really lucked out this week because today is World Read Aloud Day and the main event is happening at Books of Wonder just a hop, skip, and a jump away from the office! World Read Aloud Day, sponsored by LitWorld, is a celebration of the power of words, in an effort to show that the right to read and write belongs to everyone. Books of Wonder will be hosting the nine hour event, chock full of children’s and YA workshops, author signings/Q&A, and read aloud sessions. Ralph Lee will even be there to host “Bookworm Puppet-Making”!

Most of us have had the opportunity to learn in a great education system, and we usually take that for granted. In our younger days, and regretfully still in the present on occasion, we considered reading a chore. This is understandable, as homework and deadlines have been ingrained in us since day one, while television was a privilege you could never get enough of. But, what makes reading really great is the same thing that makes television so mind numbing. We use our imaginations to fill in the blanks. We identify more with the characters because it’s easier to picture yourself as the protagonist, instead of seeing the most attractive actor fill that role. What would cost you an arm and a leg in a college class, you can learn in a book for under $50.

Do you remember the first book you LOVED or if you can’t recall specifics, the first thing you learned about that you LOVED to read about? Today is the perfect time to pay it forward by donating that book! You can choose to do so locally at a homeless shelter, library, school, or hospital OR you can donate to one of the larger organizations, like BetterWorldBooks or LitWorld.

We all know somebody that doesn’t enjoy reading as much as we do: a sibling, a child, a spouse. Whatever the reason may be, even if it’s something as difficult to overcome as a learning disability, find that person a book today. Or an audio book. Something you know they will love to see or hear. It’s likely they have given up on reading by now, but that’s where you come in, you intelligent book enthusiast, you.

August 03, 2011   Stacey   literacy, optimism, Stacey, writing  
1

Writers Giving Back

I’m such a sap when it comes to people doing good for others. So of course I loved seeing this piece about an organization called Bronx Write Bus, which takes kids from the Bronx on cultural trips outside of the borough accompanied by volunteer writers related to the day’s cultural event. The writer works with the kids on the bus to help them take notes on their experiences. A recent example was a visit to the Anne Frank Center in Soho. Liz Welch, author of THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT, went with the kids and distributed to each a notebook, a pen, and a sandwich. How cute is that? A 12 year-old in attendance had never even heard of the Holocaust, but I’m sure came away with new understanding of the world outside of the Bronx.

I think it’s so wonderful to see writers giving back in this way, and helping communities where resources are limited and there is so little focus on books and literacy. Some of these kids just might wind up being writers someday, and their love of words and writing could start from an experience like this that opens up their world beyond their close quarters.

I’d like to know if you have any ideas of cultural destination spots in New York or elsewhere around the country that a group like this might visit. And appropriate writers that might accompany them there. For fun, here is a book that is full of literary destination ideas!

May 11, 2011   Miriam   controversy, culture, editing, literacy, Miriam, opinion, words, writing  
7

Writing well is important

You might look at the title of this post and then higher up at the masthead of this blog and think, “Duh!”  Well, yes, a literary agency blog post that states something as obvious as “writing well is important,” would seem to indicate that its author is either (a) simple minded or (b) really, really struggling to find a subject for her weekly rant.

In fact, while idly catching up on my online news, I came across this post by Kim Brooks, who teaches college composition courses.  As I read about Ms. Brooks’ frustration with the papers her students turn in, which show a complete lack of understanding of or even appreciation for correctly written English, I started musing about the countless queries my colleagues and I receive which are peppered with awkward at best, ungrammatical and nonsensical prose at worst.  Then, there are the proposals and manuscripts turned in by journalists and other professionals whose livelihood depends on their writing skills and which make us pound our heads on our desks in desperation.  One can ascribe these sloppy, sometimes undecipherable texts to laziness or haste, but perhaps, as Ms. Brooks suggests, we should be looking at how English is taught in this country and why it is that so many kids are graduating high school without knowing what to do with a comma, much less a semi-colon.

Call me old-fashioned, a geek, or a more colorful epithet, but I think it’s shameful that we are not more invested in knowing how to write well—not imaginatively, creatively, or poetically, mind you, just technically well.   Can you enjoy a piece of writing when the punctuation is off and there are misspellings or malapropisms throughout, even if the subject matter is compelling?

April 23, 2010   DGLM   favorites, literacy, opinion, Rachel, reading  
11

Read Argentina!

by Rachel

One of the things I love to do when I have spare time on the weekends, is to sit in cafés and read. There’s nothing quite like a lazy Sunday afternoon spent with a good book and hot coffee, surrounded by other readers with good books and hot coffee. So reading this BBC News article made me appreciate my lazy café reading time even more.

According to the article, today only 10% of Argentina’s population buys and reads books because of repeated blows to the publishing industry including the banning of books in the 1970’s, the economic crisis in the early 2000’s, and the recent boom in electronic media which has proved to be stiff competition for publishers. In contrast, a NY Times article from 2009 indicated that 50% of adults in the U.S. had read books in print or online within the previous 12 months.

Wanting to promote reading across the city of Buenos Aires, the government has set out to furnish cafés with books by great writers such as Pablo Neruda and Julio Cortazar. Other schemes are also in place to promote reading, including the giving away of books to school children so they can start to build their own collections at home, and large book purchases for school libraries. This is definitely something I like hearing about!

There’s a long list of authors I’d suggest to promote reading–perhaps Dickens? Camus? Twain?

Which books would you give to encourage new readers?