Empire of the Word explores how reading and writing were born; how we learn to read; who or what might prevent us from reading; and the future of reading. Eight years in the making and shot in 15 countries, the series journeys from prehistory to present day and beyond, illustrating how reading and writing are inextricably linked to human evolution and existence.
The fourth and final episode looks at the future of reading, with reference to the terrific interactivewebiste Inanimate Alice.
Empire of the Word has an accompanying interactive mystery, Lehka’s Journey. The first two of eight episodes are already online along with some interactive word games.
The program airs in Canada at the end of this month. Let’s hope we don’t have to wait too long to see it here.
Manguel’s 2007 Massey lecture series, The City of Words, can be purchased from several sources as a CD, but does not seem to be available in mp3 format.
It’s November, and it’s NaNoWri Mo – National Novel Writing Month. National as in US, of course, but an interesting concept nonetheless.
The website explains how it all works, but in essence, by the end of this month the aim is to have a 50,000 word novel in the bag. Not of publishable quality, of course, but perhaps a first draft of something more promising.
Here are the rules. It might be a fun way of keeping students engaged in these twilight weeks.
POSTSCRIPT: 3 November
John Green on NaNoWriMo, the writing process, discipline, revision and the permission to be far from perfect. This is on of his Vlog Brothers videos – he’ll be updating his NaNoWriMo reflections daily.
With the film of Mao’s Last Dancer attracting audiences around the world, and the books continuing to do so well, interest in China’s Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) is high.
A free 146-page study guide addressing this period in history has been developed by the Facing History website. Although based around Red Scarf Girl (Ji-Li Jiang), much of the content is relevant to any narrative of the period, including Mao’s Last Dancer.
Included is:
An historical background essay by China scholar Professor William Joseph, Wellesley University
19 historical documents, some in full color, including propaganda posters, photographs, government documents, poems, newspaper articles and more
Suggested activities designed for literature and history classrooms
Timelines of the Cultural Revolution, a history of modern China and a map of China
Suggested teaching strategies to strengthen students’ skills as readers, writers, listeners and critical thinkers
The Facing History website encourages students to think about their role in the world and the moral and ethical decisions that must be made as global citizens. It’s a site that warrants some exploration.
David Small’s graphic memoir Stitches has been named as a finalist in the Young People’s Literature category of the 2009 US National Book Awards.
While there has been some debate as to whether this is the right category for his story, there is no doubting the power of it, as the book trailer reveals. You could do worse than to use the simplicity of this trailer as a starting point to analyse how other graphic novels / memoirs are constructed. There is no sign of publication of Stitches in Australia yet, but it looks like one to watch for.
The CMIS database has a list of graphic novels and memoirs here.
The blogroll widget in the sidebar will link you to other blogs written by CMIS team members. You may like to check out today’s Tech Focus blog post about Book Trailers. While you are looking at the sidebar scroll down to see FF’s VodPod collection of book trailer videos.
Know of a good book trailer video? Let us know and we will add it to our collection so all our blog readers can find it.
Following recent discussions about differences between Australian and US book covers and Justine Larbalestier’s ‘Ain’t That a Shame’ post …
This activity is a great way to get your students actively involved in critically evaluating the impact and influence of book covers.
We would love to see any covers you, or your students create. If you are not able to host your images on your website send them as email attachments to cmiseval[at]det[dot]wa[dot]edu[dot]au and we will create a gallery and tell 100 Scope Noteswhere to find them.
Type your title into the search box. The first photo that contains a person is your cover.
4 – Use Photoshop, Picnik, or similar to put it all together. [Note: SumoPaint is a great, free online image editor.] Be sure to crop your image and/or zoom in.
5 – Post it to your site along with this text.
If you create a cover, drop by 100 Scope Notes and let Travis know – He’s going to post a gallery.
This anthology featured both new and established writers and illustrators and royalties went to the Big Brother Big Sister charity organization.
Black Dog Books invites students to write and submit a poem, short story or illustration for short & scary: a whole lot of creepy stories and other chilling stuff. Each entry should be no more than 800 words and will be considered on its own merit.
If the work is accepted it will appear alongside such well established authors and illustrators as Terry Denton, Andy Griffiths, Gabrille Wang, Sally Rippon and Carole Wilkinson.
Please contact Karen Tayleur at black dog books via email at karen@bdb.com.au if you would like more information or to submit a piece of work.
Get Graphic: The World in Words and Pictures is a community-wide two year project designed to introduce teens, parents, librarians and teachers to the exciting and extremely popular literary format of graphic novels.
The Teachers and Librarians pages include resources and extensive links to online materials to support units of work on graphic novels.
Check out the rss feed page for available feeds and information about how to subscribe using rss readers.
Useful links to online resources are availabe at our CMIS delicious account – Graphic_Novels. [These sites were tagged during September 2008 to provide links to resources to support teachers, teacher librarians and library staff involved in the selection and integration of graphic novels in classroom programs and school library collections.]
Teacher librarians looking for a challenging, creative, collaborative project could do worse than looking to Google Maps as a tool for mapping the locations mentioned in a text. Penguin Books (UK) have pioneered this over the past 12 months in their We Tell Stories digital project. ABC Radio National’s The Book Show has recently spoken to the creator of a reworked John Buchan classic, retitled The 21 Steps.
A book, a journey, keen kids and a collaborative English, IT or Geography (or whatever this discipline is called in your state/country/education system) teacher. Sounds like it could be fun.
The Fiction Focus Blog is published by Curriculum Materials Information Services (CMIS), Department of Education and Training, Western Australia. It is designed to provide news about current events, resources and research to assist teachers and teacher librarians engage teenagers with books and reading.
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Posted by judij
With the film of 
