“Literacy Council Gala seeks sponsorships - Star News Online” plus 2 more |
- Literacy Council Gala seeks sponsorships - Star News Online
- Common Sense Raises Issues at B&N - Publishers Weekly
- Tumnus’ Bookshelf: The NarniaFans Book Reviews: “Lenten Lands” - Narnia Fans.com
| Literacy Council Gala seeks sponsorships - Star News Online Posted: 23 Feb 2010 06:10 AM PST Message from fivefilters.org: If you can, please donate to the full-text RSS service so we can continue developing it. Sponsored by:   
The Cape Fear Literacy Council will celebrate its silver anniversary with its spring fundraiser, "Lights, Camera … LITERACY" at 6:30 p.m.-midnight March 6 at Screen Gems Studios, South 23rd Street. Gala tickets are $100 each, or two for $175. Reserved tables of eight are available for $700. Proceeds benefit CFLC's adult literacy programs. The "Lights, Camera … Literacy!" red carpet gala includes heavy hors d'oeuvres, an open bar, dancing to Category 4, casino-like games, and silent and live auctions. New this year will be a video shorts competition portraying the impact of illiteracy. Gala guests will have the opportunity to view the three- to five-minute videos and be the contest judges. CFLC needs sponsorships and volunteers. For more information, to purchase tickets, to sign up as a volunteer or event sponsor, or to donate auction items, call 251-0911, e-mail info@cfliteracy.org, or go to www.cfliteracy.org. All rights reserved. This copyrighted material may not be re-published without permission. Links are encouraged. Discuss this story in our forums.
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| Common Sense Raises Issues at B&N - Publishers Weekly Posted: 23 Feb 2010 08:12 AM PST Message from fivefilters.org: If you can, please donate to the full-text RSS service so we can continue developing it. Judith Rosen -- Publishers Weekly, 2/23/2010 10:11:12 AM When Barnes & Noble announced earlier this
month that it was going to add Common Sense Media's ratings of children's
books, movies, games, and music on its Web site, few gave it much thought. After
all, the book retailer already includes customer reviews, reader ratings, and
editorial reviews such as those that appear in Publishers Weekly. But
ever since YA author Sarah Dessen raised the subject of Common Sense's ratings
on her blog last Thursday, the
blogosphere has started to light up. Despite the fact that 12,000 reviews of
movies, books, games, and other media are available on the Common Sense Media
Web site, and that its movie reviews appear
on Netflix, among others, the way the book reviews seemed to suddenly appear on
BN.com and the fact that they seemed to emphasize negative subjects like sex,
violence, drinking, and drugs over subject matter, raised a red flag for some readers.Like many of those who have been blogging about it, Dessen's own feelings were initially mixed. "I'm not sure how I feel about this. I mean, I'm sure it's useful for parents. But I worry it's breaking a book down into these pieces that don't do justice to the whole. What do you think?" she asked. Many of those who were familiar with Common Sense praised the San Francisco-based nonprofit's work. "I LOVE Common Sense Media," wrote one parent. "I use it all the time to help me determine what is appropriate for my children (ages 11 and 14). I certainly don't have time to screen every movie and read every book ahead of time so they give me very useful information." Others weren't so sure. "I don't think the way it is broken down does it justice, because it focuses on what their system considers negative and takes everything out of context," commented another Dessen fan. On her Tea Cozy discussion site Liz B (aka New Jersey librarian Elizabeth Burns) cuts Common Sense little slack, even though she acknowledges that none of the reviews says explicitly that young people should not read a book. "It is biased," she wrote. "Read some book reviews of books you have read, and you'll see this is not objective or factual. Which is fine, because some people want this. For example, in writing about The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate, drinking and parental obedience is highlighted: "Parents need to know that there is little in the way of bad language or mature situations in this Newbery Honor book, but Calpurnia's grandfather not only drinks regularly and tries to distill his own whiskey, he seems to have no concept that children ‘as young as 11' should not be drinking." Common Sense cofounder/editor-in-chief and former book industry exec Liz Perle, who has held top positions at houses like William Morrow/Avon Books, has been surprised by the reaction. "It's the first time we had any kind of pushback," she said by phone. "I think it has to do with the way it's been implemented on the Barnes & Noble Web site. So, I think people are rightly confused." As to what Common Sense is, as some bloggers and tweeters questioned, Perle noted that she and cofounder/CEO James Steyer, an elementary school teacher turned public interest lawyer who has taught at Stanford University in the School of Education and Department of Political Science for two decades, founded the organization to supply an alternative to moralistic discussions about what kids should read or watch. "We want parents to pay attention and make informed decisions," Perle said. "We don't make a judgment. We rate based on age appropriateness." Common Sense book reviewers are selected from professional reviewers, teachers, librarians, or people with experience in publishing. To help them assess what age level is best, reviewers are given a sophisticated developmental grid that relies on input from psychologists. Finished reviews are read by an editor and then there's a read behind. "We do make mistakes," Perle acknowledged. "It's not a factory. We love when people point out errors." Not that there are too many of them, she added. Four years after Common Sense's launch, then-presidential candidate Barack Obama singled out the nonprofit, with its emphasis on "sanity, not censorship," as a model for using technology to empower parents. That same year Common Sense also announced its first partnership with BestBuy.com, first for video games, then for DVDs. Since then the organization has partnered with Netflix to share its ratings, Google to produce a video of online safety tips, as well as Yahoo and AOL and a number of cable providers. Common Sense is also working with schools on a variety of projects concerning kids, media, and the digital world. It recently partnered with Global Kids and Harvard Project Zero's Good Play Project on the 2009 Focus Dialogues, which involves the first-ever three-way online conversation among parents, educators, and teens about the ethical issues facing young people in their digital lives. And for those who are still concerned that in Common Sense's attempt to be neutral its reviews are too negative, additional companies are making plans to use them to give customers guidance. Common Sense will begin working with Apple iTunes in the near future.
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| Tumnus’ Bookshelf: The NarniaFans Book Reviews: “Lenten Lands” - Narnia Fans.com Posted: 22 Feb 2010 02:40 PM PST Message from fivefilters.org: If you can, please donate to the full-text RSS service so we can continue developing it. Hey, everybody! Welcome back to Tumnus's Bookshelf, where we review any and all books dealing with CS Lewis and the Land of Narnia. Today we will be reviewing Douglas Gresham's Lenten Lands.
Title: Lenten Lands Author: Douglas Gresham Publisher: HarperOne Language: English ISBN-10: 0060634472 ISBN-13: 978-0060634476 Summary: Life for Douglas Gresham was anything but typical .While the early days of his childhood were happy, they soon turned sour. His mother, Joy's conversion to Christianity after reading the works of one CS Lewis, and his father converting to Dianetics, along with his fathers' drinking and verbal and physical abuse of Joy, and Douglas led the family to drifting apart .While visiting Lewis in England William Gresham had an affair with Joy's cousin. This was the lass raw and the marriage soon dissolved. Joy took Douglas and his brother David to England where he got to meet CS Lewis, the man who 'discovered' the land of Narnia. Their passport soon expired and in order to keep them in England, Jack entered into a civil marriage with Joy. The two eventually fell in love. However a dark cloud loomed over that love as Joy was diagnosed with cancer. During this time, Jack and Joy were officially married, and Jack became Douglas and David's step-father. To Douglas he was the warmest and most loving step-father he could have. The cancer soon took Joy's life and the two were forced to mourn her. Douglas grew up and went to college. Then one day, on the evening that President JF K was shot, Douglas received word that Jack had died as well. He mourned for the loss of his step-father and for his old life. Later Douglas married and had a family. They briefly settled down in Australia. Review: With out a doubt, when it comes to books about Jack and Joy, Douglas, perhaps because of his first hand knowledge as he saw what went on behind the doors of the kilns and with Joy's first marriage, gives readers not only the best and most thorough, but the most beautiful, haunting and vivid portrayals of that romance. This book is a very excellent account not only of Douglas' childhood but the best depiction of Jack and Joy's marriage He does not shy away from the details of what led to the divorce between Joy and her first husband and it was clearly painful ordeal for her and the children. He also denounces all, what he calls "churchians" who judged Jack and Joy false and gives us much to think about considering them. It becomes clear in reading this book that Jack's marriage to the divorcee is not as sinful as some would like to believe. There were legitimate, Biblically sound reasons for the divorce, and Jack was not a home-wreaker who tried to drive the Gresham's apart. We also see one of the most intimate paintings of Jack as a person. From his first meeting with him to the day of Jack's death, Douglas lovingly shows just the kind of man CS Lewis was that so many biographers miss. We learn that Lewis was wise, gentle, humble and very compassionate. He is clearly a man who Douglas admired and still misses to this day, and one the world could use more of. There are some hard moments in the book and not just aspects dealing with the divorce or Joy's death. We get to learn about the deplorable way that he Miller family ( CS Lewis' cook) would treat Jack and Warnie in those final days and how they would work to further his pain and took advantage of him. The story of course doesn't end with jack's death. That is only the climax. Douglas tells readers bout his life after Jack's death from Douglas' courtship and marriage to his wife Meredith, or "Merrie" to the birth of his children to his life in Tasmania and Australia. Since the book was published in 2003 we don't get to read about Douglas' work with the Narnia films, but that's fine. The book would be much too long if it contained all of that and could probably serve as a sequel, if Mr. Gresham so chose. It is not surprise to say that this book is superbly written. Considering that Douglas's father, mother, Step-father, step-uncle and his step-fathers' close circle of friends were all writers, it only stands to reason at Douglas would more then learn from those who came before him. Douglas Gresham is just as good a writer as CS Lewis was, and I am sure he would be proud of the work he has done on this book. This book feels at times like it is almost a real-life fairy tale in it's telling. It is not just the marriage that seems like a fairy-tale, but Douglas being raised by CS Lewis. No other love story deserves such a telling then that of Jack and Joy. Their romance had every trimming and trapping of one. And what could be more like a fairy tale to a young boy then by getting to be raised by his hero, and later carrying on his legacy? This is without a doubt, one of the best books on that story and is worth owning, not just renting. 5 fout of 5 shields. Random PostsFive Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction. |
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