Literacy this Week: The Share a Story Blog Tour, Year 4

Four years? Can it really be? Wow!

What started as a random idea in 2009 as an “excuse” to bring together librarians, teachers, parents, authors, and passionistas to chat about literacy and books has become an annual literacy blog tour.

As you know from the end-of-the-month literacy roundups at Rasco from RIF, Jen Robinson’s Book Page, and our own Family Bookshelf, March pretty much boils down to two “Bs”: books and basketball. [Well, it’s three things for Jen … spring training for her beloved Boston Red Sox.]

We went into the weekend celebrating Dr. Seuss‘ birthday, and arrived today with the kickoff of Share a Story – Shape a Future, our annual literacy blog tour.

If you haven’t been by Donalyn Miller’s The Book Whisperer blog yet, I highly recommend it! She is our host for Day 1 of the tour. She and her guests offer personal stories, ideas, and ways to Create a Reading Culture at Home and at School. Let me just say they set the bar really high for the rest of us!

What I particularly love about their collection of posts is that it moves beyond the elementary crowd and embraces all readers. I’m also thrilled to see bloggers sending us posts, too. Thank you Beth Stilborn.

Tomorrow Carol is our host. Day Two of our literacy blog tour covers the theme of Reading as a Passport to Other Cultures. I was just over at the Share a Story blog prepping the post. Let’s just say I hope you have a big cup of coffee and know how to bookmark great blogsites!

I will host Wednesday’s mini-theme – Understanding Readers – here; and then I’ll be at the Share a Story blog on Thursday talking about the “other” pieces of literacy – music, screens, and more. We also have a very special surprised planned for that day. Wednesday is also World Read Aloud Day!

Friday will be a community event to wrap up our literacy blog tour. Rather than have one particular host, I thought I’d try something new …. a “Dear Reader,” kind of thing that lets people ask questions (think Dear Abby). I’ll track the Facebook page, Twitter, and the Share a Story blog to collect and organize questions so that we can help each other. I’ve thought about a hangout, but need some feedback on that …. any interest?

We will also announce the winner of the 2012 Multicultural children’s literature collection. The giveaway, sponsored by Reading is Fundamental, includes 45 books which one lucky winner will have delivered to their school or public library. To learn more, visit the Share a Story website and participate in our Writing @ Reading contest.

So I guess I say all that to say that I’ll probably be spending more time on Share a Story – Shape a Future blogsite, Share a Story Facebook Page, Twitter @Shareastory, and visiting all of our contributor blogs chatting about literacy this week.

We have a great week lined up and hope that you’ll join us on this cross-culture tour about literacy, reading, and more. During our this five-day literacy blog tour, we share lots of ideas. We hope you’ll join us and speak up, too!