Hello from Chicago!

This week, we're at the International Reading Association conference. When I say "we", I mean a bunch of us Weekly Reader folks. I arrived on Saturday, went to an all day seminar yesterday (does that sound boring? 'cuz it wasn't), and today I "worked the booth".

The booth is just that. It's a booth. Heh. Booth. That's a funny word. Let's see what Dictionary.com has to say about it:

booth  Pronunciation Key  (bth)
n. pl. booths (bthz, bths)

1. 1. A small, often enclosed compartment, usually accommodating only one person: a voting booth.
   2. A small enclosed compartment with a window, used to separate the occupant from others: a ticket booth.
2. A seating area in a restaurant with a table and seats whose high backs serve as partitions.
3. A small stall for the display and sale of goods.

Hmm... I guess our Weekly Reader booth is somewhat of a mix of numbers 1 and 3... except it doesn't have a window... and it accomodates many more than one person... and it's not really a stall. Um. I don't know, it's a booth. Moving on...

There are sooooooooo many teachers here. I'm having a great time talking to them and finding out what their students (you) love about READ and WRITING, what you like, and even some things you aren't so crazy about. All the information gets filed away in my noggin and, will, in the future, help to shape our magazines to better serve you. Yay!

Of course, you can always tell us what you think directly. You can leave a comment on any blog entry or send us an email anytime at word@weeklyreader.com.

Hope to hear from you soon!

Plagiarism is no laughing matter. If you are found guilty of doing it, you can fail a class or be expelled from school. In the real world, the penalties are much stiffer. In 2003, a 27-year old New York Times reporter Jayson Blair lost his job after he admitted to copying other journalists' writing and faking reports. Another high-profile example is reporter Stephen Glass, once a rising star at The New Republic. Glass lost his job and became the black sheep of journalism. He was also the subject of the 2003 movie Shattered Glass.

This week, the person in the spotlight was Kaavya Viswanathan.

Last year, the sophomore at Harvard was given a $500,000 advance by the publishing giant Little, Brown to write a novel about an overachieving high school senior's attempts to get popular and gain admission to Harvard University. The book: How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild and Got a Life.

In February, I read an advance copy of the book with much interest. It's not everyday that a new "young literary genius" is discovered and publicized by a major publishing company. Kaavya was 17 when she got her book deal; she was the youngest author signed by Little, Brown in decades.

My friend and colleague Pooja read How Opal Mehta ... too. The following week, we got together for lunch and talked about it, dissecting it bit by bit. Literary tastes aside (there were a few things about the book that bothered us), we decided that any 19-year-old who could write a 250+ page novel deserved to be credited for her accomplishments. After reaching this conclusion, we sat back and waited for the book to come out--we were curious to know what others would think, whether our concerns would be mirrored by critics and readers, and whether the book would be as big a hit as the publisher had hoped for.

On April 1,  Kaavya Viswanathan's much-anticipated book came to life in bookstores. A flurry of reviews followed in all major newspapers and literary outfits. Then, things took an unexpected turn. The downward spiral began.

Finish reading the article by clicking here.

Want to know more about plagiarism? Download plagiarism.pdf (75.11 KB)

I'm reading The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. It just came out last month and it is extraordinary. It's about a little German girl named Liesel during World War II. When her younger brother dies, Liesel steals a book (The Gravedigger's Instruction Manual) near his gravesite as a memento of how she felt that day. Her mother realizes she cannot take care of Liesel with the world crumbling all around them, so Liesel goes off to live with the Hubermanns'.

Throughout the book, Liesel is touched by the written word and the constant threat of war and death. The Nazi party is more and more prevalent every day, but Liesel learns their wickedness through the actions of her Papa, Hans Hubermann, a good man who plays the accordion beautifully and takes in Max, a Jew, and hides him in his basement. Liesel quickly becomes great friends with Max and she tries not to think what will happen to him (to all of them) if he is found.

I won't say anymore except that this book was published first in Australia as Adult Fiction. Here in the U.S., it is being published as Young Adult. What does that mean exactly? Well, you could look at it two ways:

1) The publisher believes there is a better chance this book will sell to younger readers.
2) This is just one of those groundbreaking books that matures the minds of young readers--a book that will help you grow up by showing you all shades of good and evil the world has to offer.

Oh yes, and did I mention that The Book Thief is narrated by Death himself? Check it out. You won't be sorry.

It's been a stressful couple of weeks.  Final exams are looming large and near, and my schoolmates and I have been fretting over term papers and tests.  However, this weekend my school hosted a "Relay For Life" event to benefit the American Cancer Society.  Students form teams (ranging from a handful to hundred people) and take turns walking around the track to show support for cancer victims and the search for a cure.  The event lasts 24 hours, and the goal is for each team to have at least one member walking around the track at all times, even in the wee hours of the morning.  I signed up to take part back in February, when I had no idea it would be such a busy weekend for me.  Now, the day of the event, part of me wished I didn't have to go, and yet I thought of my day-care sitter Jeanie and our dear family friend Karen who both passed away from cancer, and I knew I had to do something to honor their memories.  So I tore myself away from my desk and headed across campus to the track.    

Well, before I knew it, an hour commitment turned into three hours, then four ... walking around the track, I met new people, made new friends, and listened to cancer survivors -- some of them my age! -- tell their stories.  Indeed, being involved in the Relay for Life really put everything in perspective.  In the big picture, worries like term papers, tests -- and writer's block! -- seem trivial and insignificant.  What really matters is spending time with those dear to you, and striving to make the world a bit better place, one step at a time.

Writing-wise, getting involved opens your eyes to new experiences and ideas, if only in that it is a way for you to  meet interesting and inspiring people to write about.  As I was finally tearing myself away from the Relay for Life to go back to my room and get back to studying, volunteers were lighting candles to symbolize cancer victims, survivors, and a hope for the future.  Everyone who had been somehow touched by cancer lit a candle and carried it around the track.  I saw this ceremony through a writer's eyes, mirroring the way experiences illuminate your writing hopes and dreams -- and also how as a writer, you can touch people with your words and give them hope for a brighter future.

For more information on the Relay for Life and the American Cancer Society, please visit www.cancer.org.

Two weeks ago,  Gregory K. Pincus, a writer in Los Angeles posted an invitation on his blog GottaBook. He invited readers to write "Fibs" - six-line poems that use a math formula called the Fibonaci sequence.

The pattern is like this - each line must have a certain number of syllables which equals the sum of the syllables in the line above. Before you think it's too complicated, here is the basic six-line pattern:

1
1
2
3
5
8

Within a week, news of this invitation had spread like wildfire across the Internet - and more than 100 blogs were linking to GottaBook--and piles and piles of Fibs were pouring in. The New York Times even wrote an article about this! 

Here's our Fib:  

This
Blog
Calls for
A round of
Applause from all you
Dedicated fans out there.

Want to post a Fib on WORD? Post a comment.