A Rare Bird in the World: Talking with Birute Putrius
Birute Putrius discusses her second novel, THE LAST BOOK SMUGGLER.
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Posts Tagged: literacy
The Rumpus Mini-Interview Project #66: Reimagining Children’s Literature as Mixtape
In the best collaborations, creative individuals push themselves to work with new media and singular, wild things issue forth. Jeff Antebi of Waxploitation Records has managed to create just this kind of magic in his book, Stories for Ways and Means. A product of ten years’ worth of seeking and story pitching, Stories for Ways […]
...moreKids Read to Their Barbers for More Than a $2 Discount
The Fuller Cut in Ypsilanti, Michigan is offering $2 discounts to kids who read a book to their barber during their haircuts. For NPR, Jennifer Guerra speaks with customers/readers and their parents, who not only are shaving a bit off their haircut budgets, but also have the extra opportunity to encourage reading and comprehension for […]
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The Sunday Rumpus Essay: The Year of Light and Dark
It isn’t much of a contest to say that Julie Coyne is the single most inspirational human being I have ever met. And I am here—in Xela—in part because I could use a little inspiration.
...moreChildren’s Literature through the Centuries
At NPR Education, Byrd Pinkerton looks at the emergence of children’s literacy and literature, starting with 17th century learning primers through to the late 20th century’s complex young adult literature, all of which have helped define the idea of “childhood” through the centuries.
...moreThe Most Literate Nation
Finland tops the charts for most literate nation, with the United States coming in seventh. A new study looks not just at literacy rates but at literacy behaviors. These behaviors include counting libraries, newspapers, and years of schooling. Ranking nations based on reading assessment only would result in a very different list of top readers.
...moreOwn Your Favorite Author’s Favorite Book
If you’ve ever wanted an unfiltered glimpse into the inner life of your favorite author, celebrity, or athlete, new philanthropic project Read by Famous gives you that chance. Artist Josh Greene, the project’s organizer, has gathered more than 100 copies of well-read, well-loved, and much commented-in books by authors such as Junot Diaz and Eileen Myles, as well […]
...moreThe “Sealed” Literary World
For The Millions, Kate McCahill reflects on illiteracy in the modern world and checks her privilege for growing up “book-rich”: Books, I realized sharply, suddenly, are too expensive. They’re a luxury item, designated for the rich, for the privileged. Guiltily, I remembered the crammed shelves of my childhood. The literary world is a sealed one, and […]
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The Saturday Rumpus Essay: Making a Murderer and “Bad” Families
There were “good” families and “bad” families, and even I, an outsider, was quickly apprised of which was which.
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The Saturday Rumpus Interview: Jennifer Baker
The more variation we see in life, the more it becomes less about seeing one type of book by marginalized people.
...moreSubway Stories
The project brings physical books back into the public’s routine, and in some ways obviates the debate over the necessity or function of the print object. The Ploughshares blog recently featured an innovative project by a Brazilian publishing house to promote literacy on the subway: issuing books as subway tickets!
...moreSpelling Reformed
At The Awl, Annie Abrams gives the history of a 19th-century newspaper, Di Anglo-Sacsun, and its editors’ attempts to make literacy more available to the public, by developing their own phonetic alphabet that the newspaper was written in. Abrams also dives into the controversy surrounding the name of the paper: Andrews and Boyle pointedly explained that […]
...moreUniversal Library Cards
In a plan to boost literacy rates, Scotland is testing a program to give all children automatic library memberships. The pilot program gives library cards out upon birth, reports BBC.
...moreShelters for Families, and Books
Twenty homeless shelters serving NYC families will be getting their own libraries as part of a new initiative from the Departments of Education and Homeless Services. The project, supported by Scholastic and a number of literacy organizations, aims to address the needs of the city’s growing population of homeless children; last year there were over […]
...moreWeekly Geekery
Vindicating psychiatry. The science of learning to read. Philip K. Dick warned you, but you didn’t listen. This robot can date for you. Love all over the world via Twitter. Studying social engagements and the marriage ones too.
...moreRussian Novels for Rushing Muscovites
In addition to boasting one of the most beautiful subway systems in the world, Moscow commuters now stand to become the best-read. Per the Guardian, over 100 titles from authors including Pushkin, Chekhov, and Tolstoy are now available for download, simply by scanning a QR code in the station. The city has already implemented a […]
...moreBam! Pow! Laureate!
Joining the distinguished poets and children’s authors of the realm, Dave Gibbons is set to become the UK’s first Comics Laureate. In the Guardian, the artist behind the Watchmen comics shares his vision for a future where graphic novels play a central role in English literature and are put to good use by schools and parents, […]
...moreBringing Literacy to Queens
Only 20% of children in the neighborhood of South Jamaica, Queens, New York, can read at grade level. That number is astoundingly low, but three enterprising young individuals hope to change that through a new non-government organization. They’ve created an Indiegogo campaign to raise money for things like after-school and weekend programs, as well as […]
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The Rumpus Interview with Françoise Mouly
Comic publishing pioneer Françoise Mouly discusses bringing comics to the mainstream, life at The New Yorker, and the burdens of being legendary.
...more3D Printing Helps Blind Children Read
3D printing has all sorts of unique applications, and the most recent of these is making it possible for blind and visually impaired children to read classic children’s books like Goodnight Moon and Harold and the Purple Crayon. The project, started by researchers at the University of Colorado, uses printing technology to create pages with […]
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American Adults Get Worse at Reading
Well, this is terrifying: The reading skills of American adults are significantly lower than those of adults in most other developed countries, according to a new international survey. What’s more, over the last two decades Americans’ reading proficiency has declined across most age groups, and has only improved significantly for 65-year-olds. Let’s cut education budgets […]
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The Rumpus Interview with Constance Hale
Constance Hale, who has been called “Marion the Librarian on a Harley, or E. B. White on acid,” talks verbs, literacy in the Digital Age, and why “it’s wrongheaded to think that the path to glory is only through standard English.”
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