Happy Children's Book Week!

In 1919, the American Booksellers Association committed to organizing an annual Children's Book Week. A few months later, the American Library Association officially approved it during its first Children's Librarians session - and twenty five years after that, the newly-established Children's Book Council assumed responsibility for administering the event, planning official events and creating original materials. But the need for Children’s Book Week is as essential today as it was in 1919. The task remains the same as it was when Frederic Melcher made this fundamental declaration: “A great nation is a reading nation.”

You can celebrate Children's Book Week any number of ways. Join the official celebrations...

Tuesday, May 12 - Children's Choice Book Awards Gala
The second annual Children's Choice Book Awards, at the Edison Ballroom in Manhattan. Individual tickets - $300. Call (212) 677-3173, ext. 240 or email CBC@PaintTheTownRed.net.

Tuesday, May 12 and Wednesday, May 13 - Children's Book Week in Chicago
Renowned storyteller Barbara Clark performs three events in Chicago to celebrate Book Week and the 40th anniversary of the Coretta Scott King Book Awards. Free and open to the public.

Thursday, May 14 - Children's Book Week in Seattle
National Ambassador Jon Scieszka visits The Secret Garden Bookshop to celebrate Book Week.

Saturday, May 16 - Children's Book Week in Boston
Activities will be held at Copley Square, Boston, at the main branch of the Boston Public Library and also in neighborhood branch locations. Participating authors are Paul Carrick, Erin Dionne, Kate Feiffer, Jarrett J. Krosoczka, Megan McDonald, Sara Pennypacker, Michael Rex, Linda Urban, and Alan Witschonke. Join the fun from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. just outside the Rey Children's Room on the main floor. Free and open to the public.

OR...

•Make your voice heard with the Children's Choice Book Awards! Click here to see the finalists, then vote for your favorite! Awards will be given to the winner in each age group and will be posted on the Book Week site.

•Test your skills with Children's Book Week puzzles!

•Great authors have started a story… help them finish the tale with Story Starters.

•Download the official Children's Book Week bookmark, or make your own charmed bookmark.

• Tell your teacher or librarian to check out the teachers and librarians page on the Children's Book Council website for great ideas for how to celebrate Book Week.

If nothing else, READ to a child! Remember that a love of reading starts with a connection between reading and pleasure - and the best way to cultivate that connection is to read something wonderful to a child, with love.

What Price the Arts?

Yesterday the senate voted 73-24 to EXCLUDE the arts and arts organizations from any part of the economic stimulus package. I just received an incredibly valuable update from the wonderful Americans for the Arts (which I will share below) that contains details and links to steps we can take immediately to reverse this appalling amendment. They have already done most of the work for us, providing language and links to send letters to our Senators, to editorial sections of news organizations and even banners we can put on our social networking sites.

As a co-founder of a regional theater, I have experienced firsthand how much arts organizations contribute to the economy of their communities. But perhaps most importantly, the arts are the BEST way to help our children grow up to be compassionate, contributive, creative adults. Kids who participate in, and are exposed to, the arts are not only more likely to be successful in school and in life, but they are four times more likely to grow up to be philanthropic and even VOTE. (They are also twice as likely to be readers!)

Thirteen shows have closed on Broadway since January 1. If this amendment passes, we may well see the shuttering of hundreds of arts organizations across the country. Is this what we want for our kids? Is this the world we want them to inherit? Let's remember the wonderful words of Katherine Anne Porter:

“The arts live continuously, and they live literally by faith; their nature and their shapes and their uses survive unchanged in all that matters through times of interruption, diminishment, neglect; and they outlive governments and creeds and societies, even the very civilizations that produced them. They cannot be destroyed altogether because they represent the substance of faith and the only reality. They are what we find again when the ruins are cleared away.”

... and let's take action today!

Here's the info:

This afternoon the U.S. Senate, during their consideration of the economic recovery bill, approved an egregious amendment offered by Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) that stated “None of the amounts appropriated or otherwise made available by this Act may be used for any casino or other gambling establishment, aquarium, zoo, golf course, swimming pool, stadium, community park, museum, theater, art center, and highway beautification project.” Unfortunately, the amendment passed by a wide vote margin of 73-24, and surprisingly included support from many high profile Senators including Chuck Schumer of New York, Dianne Feinstein of California, Barbara Mikulski of Maryland, Bob Casey of Pennsylvania, Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, Russ Feingold of Wisconsin, and several other Democratic and Republican Senators.

If the Coburn amendment language is included in the final conference version of this legislation, many arts groups will be prevented from receiving economic recovery funds from any portion of this specific stimulus bill. It is clear that there is still much work to be done in the Senate and in the media about the role that nonprofit arts organizations and artists play in the nation’s economy and workforce.

Plan of Action

1. Arts advocates need to quickly contact Senators who voted for the Coburn Amendment and express your extreme disappointment with their vote. We need these Senators to know that their vote would detrimentally impact nonprofit arts organizations and the jobs they support in their state. We have crafted a customized message for you to send to your Senators based on their vote on the Coburn Amendment. http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http://capwiz.com%2Fartsusa%2Fissues%2Falert%2F%3Falertid%3D12612041 The correct letter, customized to each of your Senators will appear when you enter your zip code. If your Senator voted for this funding prohibition, you can send them a message expressing your disappointment and ask them to work to delete this language in the final conference bill with the House. If your Senator voted against the Coburn Amendment, you can thank them for their support of the arts.

2. We need as many news articles as possible this coming week to publish stories about the economic impact of the nonprofit arts industry and how the recession is negatively affecting arts groups across the country. Please click here http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http://capwiz.com%2Fartsusa%2Fissues%2Falert%2F%3Falertid%3D12427561%26type%3DME to customize an opinion editorial to your local media. We have provided you with easy-to-use talking points.

3. Next week, Americans for the Arts will be sending you another action alert that targets the White House and the soon-to-be-named Senators and Representatives who will serve as conferees to the final economic recovery bill. Please be prepared to take action on this alert as well.

4. Americans for the Arts itself is submitting op-eds to several national newspapers and online blogs. We are enlisting high profile leaders to co-sign these letters as well.

5. Americans for the Arts is purchasing full-page ads titled “The Arts = Jobs” in Washington’s top political newspapers in Roll Call, Politico and The Hill on Monday and Tuesday of next week. http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http://www.americansforthearts.org%2Fimages%2Fafta_news%2F0209_politico_forWeb.pdf We encourage you to post the ad on your social network sites.

Please help us continue this important work by becoming an official member of the Arts Action Fund. Play your part by joining the Arts Action Fund today -- it's free and simple. http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http://ww2.americansforthearts.org%2Fsecure%2Fregistration%2Fmembership_actionfund%2Fbecome_member%2Findex_mail.asp%3Fcode%3DG08C6CWAM

Reading on the Rise?

First the good news: according to Reading on the Rise, the latest survey sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts, the number of adult Americans reading rose to 119 million in 2008, compared to 115.5 million in 2002.

Now the bad news: If you crunch the numbers, and factor in the fact that the population increased by 19 million during that span, it puts the percentage of Americans who read any book in 2008 at 54.3%, which is actually down from 56.6% in 2002. Also, the latest survey includes online/electronic reading, which the previous surveys did not. NEA Chair Dana Gioia credits "...'Harry Potter' and 'Twilight' and Oprah and the Big Read and the Internet," but is quick to add that the battle is far from over.

My take? I think all of the above have been good for advancing the cause of reading. I also note that the timing and positioning of the report coincides with Mr. Gioia's departure from the Chairmanship. I'm not being cynical - Gioia has worked hard to initiate and advance many reading programs, the Big Read among them, and deserves to celebrate the contributions he has made to the cause. Were I in his shoes, I would welcome, and focus on, some good news at this juncture as well. But mostly I think we must be cautiously optimistic about what these things, and the change of administration, may signal for the future of reading... and carry on working tirelessly in homes, schools, libraries and bookstores to connect - and re-connect - reading with pleasure.

You can read more about this subject in this week's Publisher's Weekly - in Sara Nelson's column, Yes, He Can, and in More Americans are Reading, But..., which includes tables from the NEA study - as well as in the Wasington Post. You can also download the NEA's full report yourself at http://arts.endow.gov/news//news09/ReadingonRise.html