Me in the IRA

Remember a couple weeks ago, I told everyone that I joined the International Reading Association (IRA)? 

I was wishing at the same time that I could go to one of their conferences because they sounded so in-depth and fun. What I didn't realize at the time was that a) one of the IRA conferences was scheduled for Minneapolis (where I live) and b) my publisher Stone Arch Books had already booked me to sign copies of my Recon Academy books at the conference. 

I was thrilled, jazzed and psyched all at the same time. So I asked my partner Mike to get a splash page posted for our boys reading site hizbot.com, got some cards printed up, forgot my camera at home and headed over a couple hours early on Tuesday. 

I visited a few booths. At the Scholastic booth I met Michelle Kemp, who is an amazingly bright and knowledgable Implementation Specialist. We had a great talk about boys reading and she shared a ton of research materialsat in on a couple workshops - one with John Rocco of Moon Powder and Shrek (he art directed the movie) fame. I heard that John Scieszka of Guys Read was around. John is one of my heroes in the boys reading movement and meeting him would have been a highlight. But I heard the I'd missed him -- bummer. 

I stopped by the Scholastic booth and saw that my Minneapolis writer friend Pete Hautman was signing his new book "How to Steal a Car," I give Pete so much guff when I see him that I don't think he knows he's one of my writing heroes. I admire him so much that even thought I was cutting the clock close, I stood in line (no perks for Pete's buddies) and got a book signed, then RAN the 25 yards to the Red Brick Learning booth (Capstone and Stone Arch partners) where they were sweating my arrival. 

I didn't even notice the LONG line waiting for my signing. I signed 75 books in about 20 minutes, accompanied by the lovely duo Krista Monyhan, Marketing Coordinator and Joan Coughlan Berge, President of Stone Arch Books. What a blast! I think I had a conversation with EVERYONE who dropped by. I love people and that was lots of fun. We were giving away a copy of Recon Academy to each person and I hope we sold or inspired the sale of tons of these books for boys. I know boys will love them. I'm proud to work with Stone Arch. 

Before I left for the day, I was hanging around wondering if there was just one more thing to do before I left for the day. So I left the doorway and walked back into the exhibit hall to the Pearson booth where TA DA John Scieszka was talking about his TruckTown books. I was thrilled, jazzed and psyched all over again. He talked about reading to kids, showed us pictures of his TruckTown creative team's studio at Simon & Schuster then READ one of his new books SMASH CRASH to a group of adults who hadn't had so much fun all day!

I went up and got a book signed and told John about our project hizbot.com and my initiative to personally inspire 1 million boys to read. He said he would link to us through guysread.com when we're ready! I also told him that I forgot my camera and would come back tomorrow for a photo. 

Come back tomorrow for my report (AND PHOTOS) of my Wednesday visit to the IRA conference. That's what we call a setup.  

Ban the Internet - Keep the libraries open

One of my favorite films of recent years is i, Robot. Will Smith plays a Chicago police detective named Spooner, living in a world where service robots are as common as dogs. Spurred by his distrust of the "can openers," as he calls them, he follows the trail of clues in a robot engineer's death right to the heart of the technology and information infrastructure. 

In an early scene, Spooner confronts the CEO of the robot company who easily sniffs out his "prejudice" against robots. The CEO says, "I suppose you would have banned the Internet just to keep the libraries open!"

Lucky for us, it looks like we're learning that the Internet and libraries can safely exist side-by-side. In fact, every time I hit the library (at least 3 times a week) there's not an internet computer left unoccupied - and by people of every age, gender, nationality, language. 

Oh, and there are tons of books too. 

What's all this got to do with boys' reading? Well, someone has to keep the libraries open! We have lots of people to thank for that. One of them is the American Library Association (ALA). 

Ever wonder what the ALA is and what they do? In their words: “To provide leadership for the development, promotion and improvement of library and information services and the profession of librarianship in order to enhance learning and ensure access to information for all.”

Take a minute and click through to their website. Dive in an bask in the information. 

Especially check out the Association for Library Service to Children. They deliver research and programs that help create excellent libraries for kids. They're also the ones who give out the Caldecott and Newbery medals (especially important to us children's/YA writers!). 

I, for one, credit pretty much all of my accomplishments to my ability to read and comprehend what's on the page. At a library, you can learn just about anything. Even boys can find interesting things to read! 

I'm glad to be a member of the ALA and hope you and your community (and your boys) find lots of support and information there.