Happy birthday Kate DiCamillo!

I was born at the tail end of 1964.

On that same day, December 23, 1964, Eddie Vedder, lead singer of   Pearl Jam was born. Although I have never met Eddie, I like to think of him as my other twin, since I already have a twin sister.

I learned recently that Kate DiCamillo was born on March 25, 1964. Happy birthday Kate DiCamillo! The Tale of Despereaux and The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane are two of the books I would take with me to a desert island.

That got me wondering if there other writers were born in 1964. So ex-librarian that I am, I did a little digging to see which of my favorite children’s and YA authors turn 52 this year, like Kate, Eddie and I.

Libba Bray turns 52 on March 11. I read Lair of Dreams  recently, but my favorite book remains Beauty Queens.

 On April 9th, Margaret Peterson Haddix turns 52. My sister gave me Running Out of Time when it came out in 1995 and I have been a fan ever since.

Frances O’Roark Dowell’s birthday is on May 30th. hough I’ve read fewer of her books, my favorite is Shooting the Moon.

On June 5th, we will celebrate Rick Riordan’s 52nd birthday. One of the best book clubs I ever ran was a small pull out group reading  The Lightning Thief. I snapped up that series and even skipped lunch one day in 2008 to make a Powell’s to pick up a just released copy of The Battle of the Labyrinth.

And finally, on October 2nd, Elizabeth Wein, the author of one of my heart books, Code Name Verity,  turns 52.

A year later, in 1965, Frank Sinatra recorded this song.

Thinking about the summer reading slump

Like most teachers, I am thinking about the summer reading slump and what I can do to be sure kids read over the summer so they come back as good a reader in September as they are now. Here is Kate Di Camillo, urging kids to participate in their local library’s summer reading program.

As I pack up my room, I am sorting through the hundreds of books I have, trying to decide which ones I should take to middle school, which I should leave in the classroom and which I will give away so my students have something to read over the summer.

A few of my kids have mentioned to me that they’ve already signed up for the summer reading program at the Beaverton City Library. The Bookmarks, this year’s champion OBOB team, have already had meetings and they have a plan to practice with a team from another school. But these are not the kids I worry about.

I worry about the ones who don’t have a library card. Who won’t go to summer school. Who don’t like to read, inspire of my best efforts.

Today is field day and our schedule gets thrown out the window. May be today is the day I teach them bout audiobooks. And the joys of reading along with a professional reader. maybe that will motivate those kids who really don’t enjoy reading.

What other things have you done that motivated the kids who don’t like to read, to do so over the summer?