Trick-or-READ

When author, Alice Ozma, visited our school a few weeks ago, she mentioned to the students about a tradition that she likes to take part in each Halloween in her hometown neighborhood. It is such a simple, yet powerful idea that gets kids excited about reading and helps to put more books in the hands of children. Even as an adult, I was very tempted to make the drive to New Jersey myself just to check it out. It's called Trick-or-Read.

If you were to visit Alice's father's home on the designated trick or treat evening for Millville, New Jersey, instead of getting a handful of sugary sweets, you would receive a book. Several years ago, Alice proposed the idea of handing out books versus candy to her father and trick-or-read has been happening ever since. This year, with her role as the National Book Fairs' manager of reading programs at Scholastic, her employer heard about her tradition and was eager to help out. Alice was able to place books (and a whole bunch of other fun reading treats) in the hands of hundreds of eager and excited trick-or-readers.

Check out her blog post about the experience on Scholastic's On Our Minds Blog, as well as this New Jersey media site's story of the event.

What an awesome way to get kids to be excited about reading (and less full of sugar)!

Is this something you have done in the past? Anyone planning to try it in the future? What ways do you share your enthusiasm about reading and books? Share your thoughts and ideas!

Sinking Springs Family Book Club

UPDATE: We have chosen to postpone the book club at this time and reschedule it for a later date this winter yet to be determined. Look for updated dates/times and additional information coming soon.

After last week's visit from author, Alice Ozma, we hope that families and students at Sinking Springs are eager and ready to begin their own reading promises with someone.

As the next part of Sinking Springs' Reading Promise Project, we are looking for families who want to join us in the effort to make reading a special part of their everyday lives. Making time to fit reading into your schedule each day can be challenging. Finding ways to help your adolescent develop a love for reading can be daunting. To help you achieve these goals, Sinking Springs will be offering a family book club, based on Alice's book, The Reading Promise. 

Families who register to attend the first book club meeting will have the opportunity to:

• Connect with other Sinking Springs families to meet and discuss Alice Ozma's book, The Reading Promise.

• Discover new ways to encourage their children to develop a love of reading.

• Find out strategies for reading and discussing books with their children at home.

• Develop a support system of other families taking on reading promises and share ideas, successes, and challenges.

• Receive a FREE copy of Alice Ozma's book, The Reading Promise.

• Learn more about a variety of free reading resources available. 

• Win prizes to promote reading with their children. 

• Become guest bloggers on this blog.

The first meeting is scheduled for Monday, November 12 and additional meetings may be scheduled, depending on the availability and interest of participants. Throughout families' reading promise experiences, this blog will serve to connect readers and their promises, not only just from Sinking Springs, but all readers who wish to share about the reading promises happening in their lives.  

If you are a Sinking Springs member and want to join us for this excellent opportunity, click here to read additional information and register online.

If you are a guest visiting us from outside of Sinking Springs, but still want to join our conversation, connect with other readers, and share your reading promise experiences, please do! Join our ever-growing community of guest bloggers. Comment on our discussions and contact us to discuss ways that you can share your reading experiences through this blog. We'd love to have you!

An Evening with Alice Ozma

This past week, Sinking Springs' much anticipated day finally arrived-- our visit from author, Alice Ozma!!

With much thanks to our school's principal, Mrs. Miller, and the Sinking Springs' PTO, we were able to have Alice visit our school for the day to speak with students and families about the importance of reading.

In the afternoon, Alice began her visit by speaking with a very enthusiastic crowd of all of our 4th, 5th, and 6th grade students in the gym. She spoke with students about the importance of reading and how it will impact their future successes in life.

Immediately following her whole school assembly, Alice met with a group of aspiring authors, all relaxed in comfortable bean bag chairs in the library, to discuss the writing process. She offered some great advice to the students about her unique perspective on being an author, as well as some discussions of her favorite reads. Here's just a taste of some of the conversations she shared with students:

Some of Alice's favorite books? 
The Giver, Charles Dickens, the Harry Potter series, the Wizard of Oz series

Favorite genres?
Funny and creepy (but not scary); But not books with kissing or lots of violence.

Favorite authors?
Lewis Carroll, Daniel Pinkwater; I love authors that are weird. I love nonsense. Life is nonsense.

A few of her favorite descriptive words?
Festive and jovial. 

Advice for aspiring authors?
Keep writing. Try all different types of writing. What you think you do well, try something completely different. Try a million things and see what sticks. Share your writing with other people and see what they like, then listen to them.

Suggestions for writers to improve their writing?
I think you become a better writer when you read. You learn new words, new situations. Daydreaming the first step in writing. Stare out the window. Let your mind wonder.

Following a quick driving tour of York's historic district and a delicious dinner at Moonlight Cafe, Alice returned to school in the evening for a presentation with families. Her evening discussion, filled with laughs and quirky stories, focused on her reading streak with her father and the reasons why she believes families should start a reading promise together. Her closing words challenged families and children to create a reading promise to someone, anyone in their lives-- a family member or friend, an elderly neighbor, even a pet. Reading bonds individuals together by the shared words and experiences found within a book's pages.

Even though her time at Sinking Springs was short, we hope that the effects of her reading promise message to students and parents are long-lasting. 

One of our favorite Alice answers that she gave during her visit was in response to a question from a sixth grade student who wondered 'How is your life different as an author now than it was before you wrote the book?' I'm braver. I'm more interested in travel. I'm friendlier. I've made friends in one day with people all across the country. I love knowing that if I'm ever in a certain city, I can call up a librarian that I've met before and go out to dinner. [Being an author] has really improved me as a person. 

Alice, we thank you for the time, enthusiasm, and message that you shared during your visit to Sinking Springs Elementary and are honored to join your list of friends. Call us for dinner anytime. :)

Happy Reading!
Mrs. Hartman

Exciting News!

"It takes time to make magic happen." These wise words were given to me by author, Alice Ozma, during our emails back and forth after I finished reading her book. Immediately after I turned the last page, I knew I had to find a way for her to visit our school and spread her enthusiasm with Sinking Springs families.

Luckily, I am SO thrilled to say that the "magic" I was waiting for will finally be happening. Alice Ozma, author of The Reading Promise, will be visiting Central York School District on October 23rd!

Alice will be speaking with both students and families. During the day, she will be presenting to our fourth through sixth graders about reading. She will also have the opportunity to meet with a smaller group of students throughout the school who have a special interest in writing and aspire to be authors to chat with them about the writing process. In the evening, Alice will continue to spread her zest for reading by speaking with families. I cannot wait!

Central York families and local readers, to participate in this exciting opportunity to hear Alice speak and meet her during her book signing and photo time after her event, please visit the event registration page to register and find more information. Invite your families, friends, neighbors, and fellow readers. All are welcome to this event!

In the meantime, get excited and watch a preview of some of Alice's previous speaking engagements at San Diego public library and hear what others have to say about her work:

The Reading Promise by Alice Ozma

When Alice was in fourth grade, she and her father-- a beloved elementary school librarian-- made a promise to read aloud together for 100 consecutive nights. Upon reaching their goal, they celebrated over pancakes, but it was clear that neither wanted to let go of what had become their reading ritual. They decided to continue what they came to call "The Streak" for as long as they possibly could.

From Frank L. Baum to Dickens to J.K. Rowling to Shakespeare, Alice's father read to her every night without fail until they day she entered college, a remarkable eight years later. In this deeply affecting memoir, Alice tells the story of her relationship with the extraordinary man who raised her. From her dad's steadying hand on the back of her wobbly bike to his one-man crusade to keep reading in schools, Alice weaves a series of deftly written, often hilarious vignettes about the words they shared and the spaces in between.
           - Summary from the back of The Reading Promise

This book was a bestseller for The LA Times, Barnes and Noble, American Booksellers’ Association, and IndieBound. It was in the Amazon Top 5 Movers and Shakers and cracked the top 100 books. GoodReads.com voters said it was one of the top five  memoirs/autobiographies of the year. It has been featured on The CBS Evening News with Katie Couric, CBS Sunday Morning,  NPR’s Weekend Edition with Scott Simon, Fox and Friends, The Today Show, and in publications ranging from The Washington Post to Wired to Marie Claire.

For more information about this book, visit The Reading Promise's website (where some of this information is from) to read more about the book, the author, and book suggestions for starting your own streak.