Become a Reading Partner

Reading Partners is a national literacy nonprofit that teams up with elementary schools in under-served communities to provide one-on-one literacy tutoring to struggling elementary student readers. They exist to help these students catch up and master the reading skills necessary to succeed in school. With the supplemental one-on-one instruction that volunteers provide, students typically end the year more than doubling their rate of learning! In order to do this, however, they rely on our community partnerships, as well as amazing community volunteers. 

Both SCBWI and Reading Partners have similar aims and they are looking for volunteers. Their program empowers community volunteers to provide one-on-one literacy tutoring for struggling 

K-4 readers, using our easy-to-follow curriculum. 

They are asking if any SCBWI-WWA members, published or not, would be able to commit as little as one hour/week, during the school day, Mondays–Thursdays. No previous experience is necessary! There will be 24/7 supervision and support.  Currently, they are serving Beverly Park Elementary (South Seattle) and Sanislo (West Seattle). 

Please visit www.readingpartners.org, or call (206) 992-4484 with any questions.
 

Skype an author

Hey, authors. Here's a cool way to visit schools without leaving your office. There are some steps you need to take to get set up, but it sounds like a great way to get your work into schools.

Check it out here.

Great post on school visit fees

Stasia Kehoe has an illuminating post on the subject of fees authors and illustrators charge schools for their visits. Here's an excerpt:

Almost all authors do charge for school and library visits, generally in the form of a daily honorarium plus travel and expenses (I recommend stipulating something like "up to 3 (or 4) presentations per day"). EXCEPTIONS: (1) If the publisher is paying for your travel and hotel for a book tour or other promotional event, standard protocol is to waive fees for any schools you visit in conjunction with a publisher-funded trip. (2) If you have reached out to a school or library (instead of them contacting you) because you will be in their area, it is typical to charge a reduced, flat fee and no travel expenses.

Read the rest.

3 keys to a successful school visit

Veteran school visitor Darcy Pattison has good advice today on her blog: communicate, prepare the school, and prepare yourself. To get all the details, visit her blog.

Mentor needed for high school writer (Lynnwood/Mountlake Terrace)

We received this email today and hope someone out there in the kidlitosphere can help. Please feel free to forward if you know someone who might be interested.

Dear Reader,
My name is M.E. [Ed note: Name changed to protect the identity of a minor.] I'm a student at Mountlake Terrace High School interested in creating a children's book for my culminating (senior) project. I would very much appreciate it if somebody from your organization could send me the contact information of a writer, or writers, in the Lynnwood/Mountlake Terrace area. Thank you very much for your time.
Sincerely,
M.E.

If you're interested, please contact his teacher at efreemantle at nsd dot org. Thanks!