Our trip to Chicago for the annual International Reading Association convention was not without its fair share of culture and good times. Some of us went to the art museum, some of us ventured to the top of the Hancock building, and on Wednesday evening, some of us drenched ourselves in soul, rhythm, and blues at the world famous Kingston Mines Blues Club.

As we sat there listening to Jimmy Burns and Andre Taylor & the Blues Alley Cats, Jeff Ives (known to one and all as "Jives") came up with the brilliant idea that we should let the music inspire us to write. So that's what we did.

You can read the story we came up with by clicking below. And when you're through, you know you can always try one on your own. It doesn't necessarily have to be a story inspired by the blues. You can use any kind of music to move you... even the sound of silence.

Our strange, sad story, Dancing Aloud, was written in turns by Jeff Ives, Sandhya Nankani, Julie Alissi (One L, Two Ss, Two Is, One A) and myself. If it feels jumpy or if the flow is uneven at some points, that's just because it was written by four different folks with four different visions of what lay inside the sultry baseline of the classic downtown sound that was hittin' us from all angles.

You can read the words that the blues man inspired by clicking here. Enjoy.

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.