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Hello friends!
After thoughtful consideration, we have decided to suspend posting organizational updates on this blog, ReadAllAboutIt, at the end of 2011. But fear not! We are moving over to Tumblr, where we will still post updates about our volunteers and programs; discounts, deals, and events at the Open Books store; literacy and education news in Chicago and beyond; and all things book-related!
Follow us here: http://openbooksorg.tumblr.com
Editor’s Note: this fall, Open Books is thrilled to present a new weekly series on our blog: Chicago Talent Tuesdays. Each week, you’ll hear from one or two of our intelligent teenage authors from Chicago Talent Development Charter High School, an innovative campus in W. Garfield Park. The students will regale you with stories of their participation in ReadThenWrite, as they work through Nikki Grimes’ Bronx Masquerade and write their own memoirs, which in turn will in published by Open Books after the program’s conclusion in December.
This week’s blog is written by the creative Luella Brent.
Luella Strikes a Pose on Our Last Day
My name is Luella, and I’m from cohort 103, which is the sophomore honors cohort. During this last week of Open Books. . . we’re all sad and a bit anxious to see the finished product. . . we finished our memoirs! When we first started writing our memoirs, everyone was like, “Ugh. We don’t want to write this boring stuff.” But after the journey or whatever, we all got used to expressing ourselves with words. Now if someone asks me to express myself in words, I’d be more than happy to. I feel kind of . . . I don’t know. . . what’s the word. . . shocked that I actually finished my memoir. During the first few weeks of writing, I would also start and stop, have side conversations, and do other things that would keep me from writing. But during the last few weeks, I stayed more focused and wrote a final memoir. I’d like to think that reading our memoirs might have an impact on other people, the same way it did with our mentors. Every week, my mentor Dan got a copy of the rough draft that I had written. He read and put comments on it to make me want to keep writing. He also told me that he wanted to see me finish my memoir. The next time I will see him will be at the Open Books store for our book signing. I’ll be happy to see his reaction to the final product.
For the last 10 weeks, our cohort has experienced a dramatic and interesting change. Before we did Open Books, we were beginners. Now we’re intermediate, young authors. Should I say that again?! We are young authors!
Check up on this blog in early February to see our final reactions to the book signing. Oh, the name of our anthology (a whole bunch of stories in one book) is Life Beyond School. Pick up your own copy at Open Books in early February!
Signing off,
Luella AKA Purplicious
Bucktown Buddies Pairs
Every Tuesday and Thursday from 4pm-5pm, CICS Bucktown is home to Open Books. During this active hour, 10 amazing volunteers work with a group of adorable second graders, plus one equally adorable first grader.
When I first approached the charter school, I encountered countless children who had just ended school for the day. Unlike these students, Bucktown Little Buddies remain at school for an extra hour twice a week and work with volunteers on improving their literacy skills.
Big Buddy Jen and Little Buddy Gage
Little Buddies improve their reading skills through countless books on a variety of topics. Each child has his or her own taste in books, and the volunteers and I constantly try to cater to the children’s interests. Just the other day, I went on a hunt for books on sports, dolphins, creepy crawlers, and of course, superheroes! Likewise, one of our volunteers brought a book about camping to Buddies to read with her student, and she plans on donating the book once they finish it! In addition to books, Bucktown Buddies are constantly improving their literacy skills through flashcards, worksheets, and the kids’ favorite game- banana grams!
While I have only served as the Bucktown Buddies Site Leader for a few weeks, some of our Big Buddies have volunteered there for months, some even years. Not only have the volunteers helped me in every way they can during my first weeks at CICS Bucktown, they have formed strong bonds with their Little Buddies and are dedicated to helping these children learn.
Big Buddy Efrat and Little Buddy Ricky
Although I am the new kid on the block, both the volunteers and the students welcomed me with open arms. After having led Bucktown for a few weeks now, I can proudly say that we make a great team- I
love to lead, the volunteers love to work with their little buddies, and the kids love having us there! Together we make reading and literacy fun, and the kids love Booking It’ With Their Bucktown Big Buddies!
Editor’s Note: this fall, Open Books is thrilled to present a new weekly series on our blog: Chicago Talent Tuesdays. Each week, you’ll hear from one or two of our intelligent teenage authors from Chicago Talent Development Charter High School, an innovative campus in W. Garfield Park. The students will regale you with stories of their participation in ReadThenWrite, as they work through Nikki Grimes’ Bronx Masquerade and write their own memoirs, which in turn will in published by Open Books after the program’s conclusion in December.
This week’s blog is written by the illustrious Terrance M. and the phenomenal Tiara M.
Tiara orates for her group.
Heyyyyyy. How you doin’? Reporting live from Chicago Talent, this is Tiara and Terrance telling you about what we are currently experiencing during Open Books this week at school. Right now, we are continuing to work on our memoirs with Rebecca. This week, we received feedback on our first drafts. We were asked to add more descriptive details to make our readers feel like they were there, reread our drafts and correct all of our grammatical mistakes, and elaborate on the stories we’re telling. Rebecca (our home girl who teaches us to think outside the box with our writing) taught us a new technique that will help us add more information to our memoirs. She said, “If you want to add something to your draft, you write a number where you want to place it, and then on a separate sheet of paper, write that same number and then write what you want to add.” We both used the technique to add information to our stories to make it more interesting, more like a real-life situation.
Time for a little bit of honesty from Tiara. This writing thing is frustrating for me. I’ve never done this before, and I’ve come to realize that writing is an important skill to have, but it’s hard to write so much. At first, I felt like I didn’t really have much to write about. Nothing really bad has happened to me in my life, and at first I felt like we were supposed to write about something like that, so it was hard for me. I’ve since found something to write about, which makes me feel like the writing process will be easier. I still have a little ways to go, but I know that I will finish and be proud of my work.
For our faithful blog readers who may not know us too well, step a’foot* into the world of Open Books @ Chicago Talent. (*this means you can come visit us whenever you want).
We outta here,
Tiara and Terrance
Hurry in for these great titles and thousands of other great gifts for the reader in your life!
Do get the feeling that the “hot gifts” of the book world will smack of redundancy this holiday season? You don’t want to be giving someone their 5th copy of the new Steve Jobs biography, do you? I know you. You want to be original… Surprising… Remembered. Try these alternatives and witness the genuine surprise on your beloved giftee’s face when they crack open these gently read treasures. Maybe these books aren’t brand new, but they will be new to them!
Listed below are some of this season’s most popular titles and my humble suggestions for alternatives. You can always e-mail me for more or contact us on twitter @openbookstore!
Happy Holidays!
The bookstore team is always ready to make additional suggestions in person or @openbookstore!