Read All About It!

It’s Friday, the calm before the awesome storm that shall be next week. Dani, our development director, starts on Tuesday, as do our creative writing field trips! Can’t wait. We have been preparing for these field trips in a variety of ways, including attending a wonderful writing workshop through Literacy Works and ordering giant pencils and (inevitably) pretending to sword fight with them. (Special thanks to super reading buddy Lane Imberman for helping out in our office and warehouse lately!)

In other news, some fantastic friends are joining us at our home school, Schiller Elementary, next week. Sit Stay Read will kick off a three-week stint working with third graders, and 826CHI will be back to write more with fourth grade. Thanks so much to those groups for adding Schiller to their schedule. Aren’t the kids the coolest?

As we all enjoy this lovely Friday afternoon, take a moment for the awesome first installment of the Open Books podcast, courtesy of literacy intern and audiophile Max Barry. Even Open Books experts may learn something new about our organization. (Hint: We love ice cream.) Also, there are lots of new photos on our Flickr page. The big and little buddies in our reading program know how to have fun, whether that be with books or with air guitars! I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, VOLUNTEERING IS FUN!

Have a wonderful weekend (with a good book), and see you soon — at the Open Books benefit at Las Manos Gallery tonight and our sorting event with Rock For Reading tomorrow!

Open Books intern Hayley Kahn got a full-time job in one of her favorite schools, so we say thanks for her service, wish her well, and look forward to seeing her classes at Open Books field trips soon. Congratulations, Hayley!

Of course, if you follow Open Books, you know we don’t waste time. Thus, today we also welcome a new intern, Annie, who will help with the Open Books Buddies site in Bucktown, as well as field trips and other projects. Yay! Here she is in her own words:

My name is Annie Rooney and my favorite color is green, I enjoy being outside and am usually up for just about anything. I am currently a junior at DePaul, and I am studying a few different things that all fit together nicely for me. I am majoring in women’s and gender studies and minoring in both peace/social justice studies along with photography. I absolutely love DePaul and Chicago even though I’m a long way from my home in Oklahoma.

I would consider myself a lot of different things. I really like understanding and learning about new people, places and things. I would characterize myself as an artistic thinker, and I really enjoy sharing my thoughts and hearing other people’s ideas. I am very involved with several social justice issues ranging from antiwar marches to antiviolence education to environmentally friendly living. I try to be a walking billboard for myself and my passions so that way I’m being true to everything that bounces around my mind.

I enjoy dancing, reading, nature, getting mail, and a wide variety of music (mainly folk and jam band types). I like being active and all these things all seem to fuel my energy level. I’m very excited to be an intern at Open Books!

Thanks, Annie! We’re excited to have you on our literacy programs team! – Erin

Open Books is happy to present our FIRST edition of Let’s Meet; a special edition to the Read All About It Blog.

Let’s Meet will give our readers the chance to meet Guest Blogging authors, partners and friends of Open Books. They will be sharing stories from their lives, why they love reading, answering the 10 Questions We Always Ask, or anything at all about books, literacy and the love of everything in between.

So Let’s Meet: Author and Comedian Debbie Sue Goodman

The Open Books team feels fortunate to have been contacted by her and will be inviting her to share her talents with us for a future Comedian/Improv event once our store is open.

Enjoy her answers to The 10 Questions We Always Ask

1. How would you spend your last 24 hours if you knew the world was ending in the morning?

I would rent the largest theater and perform my one-woman comedy show and bring all my loved ones with me.

2. What was your dream job when you were 5?

To be a Movie Star.

3. If you could have dinner with 3 people (real or fictional) who would you invite and what would you eat?

Barbra Streisand, Donny Osmond and Donald Trump. We would eat salad, filet mignon and vegetables.

4. What was your favorite childhood toy or game?

Barbie dolls.

5. If you could have one super power what would it be?

To end all illness.

6.What secret obsession do you have that no one knew about before this interview?

Nothing I can think of.

7. What makes you laugh uncontrollably?

The “I Love Lucy” Show.

8. What book are you reading right now?

A Danielle Steel novel.

9. What is your favorite ice cream flavor?

Vanilla.

10. What is playing on your iPod/record player these days?

The “Chicago” movie soundtrack.

We thank Debbie for sharing her time with us!

For information about her and to purchase her books, visit; www.stillsingle.org

Congratulations to Northwestern University journalism student Erin Dostal, who just completed a stellar multimedia project about Open Books. After volunteering with Open Books Buddies, Erin picked our organization to profile, and we thank her for all of her support and for spotlighting our mission of literacy. Next up for Erin is a spring-quarter internship in Indianapolis. The Open Books team — and the little buddies at Oakton Elementary in Evanston — look forward to her return to Chicagoland in the fall!

Check out Erin’s profile of Open Books!

One of Open Books’ fantastic partners, Chicago Books to Women in Prison, is having a very cool fundraiser this month. Below is an e-mail about it from Laura, one of the group’s volunteers (whom I know from our childhoods in Austin, Texas, and coinciding moves to Chicago a couple years ago). I hope some Open Books folks will attend and support the program. Have a great weekend, everyone! — Erin

Hi Everyone,

I would like to invite you to support Chicago Books to Women in Prison’s next fundraiser, a screening of Top Girls at Live Bait Theatre. All the info is at http://www.chicagobwp.org. We have tickets for each night on Sat, March 15 and Sun, March 16. Tickets are sliding scale: $15-$25. Bring a date! You can pay me via cash or check. You may also pay via our new paypal link at www.chicagobwp.org. Just let me know which night you want and your
name will be on the list.

There will be a raffle both nights. Overachievers have been working on scoring some exceptionally fly raffle prizes. I will be there on the 16th, I would love you to join me!

Laura