Yesterday was the final day of the International Reading Association (IRA) conference. I don't have anything really exciting to report because I spent pretty much the entire day in the Weekly Reader booth. I didn't meet any authors or go to any lectures because I was chillin' at the home base, mixing it up with teachers from all walks of life. And that, in itself, was something special.

I'm about ready to leave now. The four of us that headed out here together in an oversized minivan just five days ago are ready to pile back in and groove on back to the states. Canada was truly a blast, eh? I thank you for your good will and best wishes.

Before we leave this fine country, we're stopping by a small, mostly unknown place called Niagara Falls. I hear they've got, like, a bunch of water or something? I dunno. That's just what they tell me. ;)

So yeah, overall, the trip was just jam packed with inspiration and ideas. Gotta give a great big shout out to IRA for making it all possible. How does one give a shout out? Um.

YO IRA..... WORD!

Yup, that oughtta do it.

"Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend.
Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read."
     - Grouch Marx

Coming soon to WORD: More student writing than you can shake a stick at! How's that for barking up the right tree???

Wow.

You know what? The International Reading Association (IRA) conference is superb! I cannot begin to tell you how much fun we are having here! ... oh wait, yes I can. And it starts now.

So today was Tuesday, the penultimate day of the show. And, true to form, the day started out miserable and quickly moved to fantastic... and here's how. (Editor's note: The following paragraph is boring. Please skip ahead to the **starred** paragraph to read the good stuff.)

I was scheduled to work the Weekly Reader Booth at 8:00 a.m. I arrived at the convention hall in plenty of time, but of course, just as I was about to gear up to talk to my first teacher of the day, I realized that I had left my business cards back at the hotel. It seems like a minor thing, but really, they are essential for making contacts. So I ran back to our rental van and attempted to drive back to the hotel. I say "attempted" because the traffic back to the hotel was horrendous! I was on the verge of a meltdown in rush hour traffic because I knew that there was a very important lecture I wanted to attend at 9:00. I somehow managed to maintain my rage and turn the van around and head back to the convention hall. Grrr! Oh I was so mad! I can't even tell you.

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**I arrived back at the convention center JUST in time to power walk to my lecture with not a second to spare. I sat down just in time for the beginning of a speech by Mo Willems and Brian Selznick.

Willems is an author/illustrator who has penned and drawn gorgeous children's books such as Don't Let The Pigeon Drive The Bus!, Edwina, The Dinosaur That Didn't Know She Was Extinct, and Today I Will Fly!

Selznick is the author/illustrator of many young adult novels including The Houdini Box, The Dinosaurs of Waterhouse Hawkins, and most recently, the highly acclaimed tour de force, The Invention of Hugo Cabret. (We recently featured "Hugo Cabret" in Writing's April/May issue. Maybe you saw it on page 4 in Write Stuff?)

Together, Willems and Selznick spoke about their love of writing and drawing and how they go through their creative processes to come up with fascinating new ways to tell a story! And they spoke with such humor and such love of their work that it really put their captive audience on the edge of their seats. Willems is an author who's sense of humor and love of life is impossible to ignore. "When I was a child," Willems said, "I was, what is now called, a 'reluctant reader'. back then, it was called 'a boy'." He then went on to assure us he was kidding. Boys love to read just as much as girls do. For sure.

Willems' sheer enthusiasm and good will erupted out of him and we, the audience, were mesmerized. He even conducted a draw-along session where he taught us all how to draw a pigeon. (Mine was a little off, but then again, most of what I do is a little off.)

When it was Selznick's turn to speak, he came out shining. His award-winning new book, The Invention of Hugo Cabret is a young adult novel the likes of which the world has never seen. It's "part book, part graphic novel, part movie, part historical fiction, part everything." Reading "Hugo Cabret" is akin to living it. I would love to tell you about the plot but there's just too much else to talk about. You can learn all about this extraordinary book by clicking here.

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After that INCREDIBLE experience, I went back and worked the booth some more. I met with many fascinating teachers (maybe one of them was yours?) and I got a lot of great ideas for READ magazine! Look for great things next year! And, as always, you can ALWAYS contact us and let us know what you think of our magazine (and Writing, too) by emailing us at word@weeklyreader.com. And while I'm on the subject of plugging our stuff... have you checked out our Student Writing Showcase yet? I mentioned it the other day... anyway, check it out if you get a chance. It's only just the beginning of what we want to do with YOUR stories and poems!

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I MET NAOMI SHIHAB NYE!! She's the author of The Flag of Childhood: Poems From the Middle East, This Same Sky: A Collection of Poems from Around the World, and What Have You Lost?, among many others.

Ms. Nye is sooooooo excited to be.... oh wait... maybe I shouldn't announce this just yet? Hmm... ok, well I really see no harm in it. So check it out! This past year, Writing's student writing contest called "Take Me Away" was judged by the fabulous Ursula K. Le Guin. For next year's writing contest, I am pleased to announce that we have signed on the glorious Naomi Shihab Nye to be our guest judge! How cool is that?! Ms. Nye was all smiles when we talked about it today! And she can't wait to read your work! The theme of the contest won't be announced until September, but I can tell you this with confidence: you're gonna like it. :)

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So after THAT happy experience of meeting Ms. Nye, I went to hear S.E. Hinton speak in front of a HUGE audience! Ms. Hinton is the author of the classic novel, The Outsiders. It is a timeless tale of a young boy named Ponyboy who is stuck in a gang of "Greasers." But are the Greasers really that bad? Or are they just misunderstood? What makes a bad boy bad? Who decides? I don't know, you tell me.

Ms. Hinton started writing The Outsiders when she was only 15 years old!! The story was based on her personal experiences in school. There were two sets of gangs, The Greasers and The Socs (or "Socials"). And she was fed up with both of them. She wrote her anger and disappointment and it turned into art... and it has stood the test of time.

During her speech, Ms. Hinton did speak at lengths about writing and how hard it can be. She said that the year she was writing The Outsiders, she "got a D in Creative Writing." It just goes to show that anyone can write! Even near-failing writers! You just have to find something you love to write about and get it down!

"After writing The Outsiders, I took a break," Ms. Hinton said, "When I finally came back and decided to write again, I realized... that I didn't know how to write! I couldn't write on a typewriter... I couldn't even write letters to my friends!" She sighed under the weight of the memory. "Many writers will tell you that there's no such thing as 'Writer's Block'. Well I'm here to tell you that yes Ma'am, there is."

So to make a long story short... there is always hope. All you have to do is do it. So do it. Get to it. And send it to us. Click on submit your writing in the right hand column or send your writing directly to word@weeklyreader.com. What have you got to lose?

Nothing. Exactly.

Goodnight Toronto!!!!

-WORD

Day Two, Sunday
We set up our Weekly Reader booth here at the International Reading Association (IRA) conference. It took pretty much all day and was more or less uneventful until, near the end of the day, one of our walls came crashing down. To make a short story shorter, we got a new wall. Yah!

Day Three, Today
The day started out slowly. The hotel coffee was wretched, and the ride to the convention center was filled with trying to cope with the fact that the coffee was wretched. But as soon as we got to our booth, happy faces were genuinely turned on as we greeted teachers who came from all across North America.

Many of them were very familiar with READ and Writing magazines and they were ecstatic to learn about our brand new electronic issue! Wait, this deserves a whole new section here....

CHECK IT OUT!!
The first annual Student Writing Showcase is here! Get on the phone! Tell all your friends! Sing it loud and clear! What is it? We will have a future blog dedicated to that. But for now, see for yourself! Click the link above or go to www.weeklyreader.com/showcase. And start thinking about what you want to submit for next year's Showcase. Because, oh yes, we'll be doin' it again! Count on it.

Day Three, Today (cont.)
When I wasn't "working the booth" and showing off our magazines, I also got a chance to see Lisa Klein, author of Ophelia, speak about writing, reading, and teaching Shakespeare. Ophelia was the love interest of Hamlet. In Shakespeare's play, Ophelia goes mad (crazy) and drowns herself in a river. In Klein's book, she takes the character and rewrites her part. Ophelia does not actually die in this daring, innovative new novel, but rather, she actually fakes her own death and escapes from the kingdom of Elsinore to live a new life. This is fantastic stuff! It's so cool when new authors can take old works and re-write them in ways that readers of the past had only contemplated, don't you think?

"Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery," Klein said in her speech. "I often ask myself, 'What would Shakespeare do?'" Ha! Who hasn't? :)

If you haven't read this book, you have to check it out. But if it slips your mind or you just have too many things going on now (what with prom, summer vaca being almost here, cracking down for finals, etc.), fear not! READ magazine is going to attempt to do something very cool with this book in the coming year. Details to come...

I also met Jane Yolen today. She is the author of many books including Pay The Piper:A Rock 'n' Roll Fairy Tale. We have collaborated with her on a number of projects over the years and most recently, she read a fairy tale written by a student writer on none other than (you guessed it!) Student Writing Showcase!

And if that weren't enough to fill a whole week (let alone one day!), I also met with the hip cats over at Flocabulary! And yes, I understand that saying "hip cats" makes me sound like a complete poser, all apologies. But these guys are great! You absolutely have to check out their web site! Shakespeare as Hip-Hop?!? Shut up! Awesome!

And speaking of fantastic web sites, I also met a guy from Teaching Matters. I have so much to say about this organization that I will have to wait until a later date to get into an in-depth discussion here, but for now, giver their site a well-deserved gander!

There's just so much cool stuff goin' on at IRA this year but unfortunately, I have to get some sleep now so I can be fresh again in the morning.

Until then,
WORD!

Dear Moms,

Here are two student written poems that pretty much say it all. You're the best! Thanks for everything!

Love,
WORD

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Good Money
- by Amelia Titus, Grade 11

Mother, mother, where have you been?

Did you step in a coffee shop,
[God knows you love them]
and get lost in Tuesday's specials?

Or sit on the corner of your own
mother's bed at 4 a.m. and watch
her jerk in the dark?

Or did he put you in the spin
cycle like he does all the dry
cleaning clothes?
[God knows you love the smell
of fresh dryer sheets.]

A smell that used to cling,
sticky, in the air outside
our worn-wood home,
before all the sawdust and
sample bathroom tiles moved
in, their suitcases crammed
with overextended adjectives.

You thought,
"Good money will buy me
a kitchen where I can cook duck
and finally learn to be a chef."

[Of all things, God knows
you are not a chef.]

Good money will buy me
hardwood floors and
a wine refrigerator,
where all good things
are bottled and cold.



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A Rose for Mama
- by Kimberly Woodcock, Grade 6

I live on a small dirt road
On a cozy little farm
Away from the town's center
Away from other barns

Across the way from my farm
Is a meadow filled with flowers
When I lay in the field and daydream
I feel that I have different powers

One cloudy and useless day
When my daddy had left for town
I remembered it was Mama's birthday
So I picked all the flowers that I found

When I saw the perfect flower
I dropped all of the others
It was the most perfect thing ever
And should be given to all mothers

I ran home shouting
With just one thing in my hand
But I tripped accidentally
And the flower was crushed in the sand

My mama came out and got me
And asked "What happened, darling?"
I told her about the flower
And her look was very startling

She said she didn't care about that
It was the thought of the gift that counts
She said she loved me for thinking of her
And the flower didn't matter an ounce

I always loved my mama
And that's the way it goes
Now every single birthday
I give my mama one single red rose!