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Up And Coming: November
NaNoWriMo Scribble Station Nights:
Monday, November 5
Tuesday, November 13
Monday, November 19
all from 5 pm - 11pm
29 Hour Scribble Station Extravaganza:
Thursday, November 29
6 pm
through
Friday, November 30th
11:59 pm
Open Books Volunteer Parties:
November 14
Noon
November 28
6:30 pm
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Get Involved...
Books? Pizza? Cool people? Yay! It's an Open Books Volunteer Party!
You're invited to an Open Books info session and pizza party, celebrating our newest literacy program and volunteer opportunity: OPEN BOOKS BUDDIES! As an Open Books Buddy, you can join us in classrooms, after-school homeless shelter programs, and other places around town as a reading mentor, tutor, or other volunteer. We even have a few select spots for super-fun volunteers to help with StoryBus, a huge, colorful tour bus that travels around Chicagoland spreading the love of reading.
Absolutely no experience is needed! Perks include free books, a limited edition t-shirt, VIP treatment at Open Books parties and events, and that unforgettable warm, fuzzy feeling you get from making the world a better place.
To learn all about the program and get started as a Buddy, join us on the date of your choice! We'll be getting together on:
Wednesday, Nov. 14
at noon
and
Wednesday, Nov. 28
at 6:30 p.m.
at
Open Books 213 W. Institute PlaceSuite 305(one block north of the Chicago Brown Line stop )
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Open Mic:
Juli Schatz
Get to know extraordinary Open Books volunteer Juli Schatz! We are delighted to feature Juli in this month's newsletter. Juli has been a wonderful volunteer who provides words of support, coordinates book drives at her church, and recently helped out with the Chicago Reader Book Swap! Her enthusiasm and excitement for our project is appreciated, and we didn't even have to talk her into stretching out on the table for the photo above.
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Help Sort Us Out!
We've got 90,000 books to sort through...and we'd love your help to do it! Every volunteer will receive a colorful Limited Edition Open Books t-shirt as our thank you gift, and the right to take home any book you find that you would like to read. (We figure we'll get 'em back from you eventually!) To sign up, just contact Marilyn (mkaslofski@open-books.org).
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There's a chill in the air and a spring in our step as we bustle around our community and the country spreading the word about Open Books and literacy! As you'll read below, we have great volunteer events and writing challenges this month. Thank you for taking the time out of your busy emailing day to read this, and remember, your feedback is welcome! On with the news!
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OBooNaNoWriMo: National Novel Writing Month!
This month Open Books is joining over 1,500 local novelists to participate in National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), a nonprofit literary crusade that encourages aspiring novelists all over the world to write a 50,000-word novel in a month. To help the cause and boost the word count, Open Books will host a series of writing nights with comfy couches, free wireless internet, and as much caffeine as it takes to help as many Chicago would-be novelists as possible reach the magic 50,000-word goal.
NaNoWriMo is the largest writing contest in the world. At midnight on Nov. 1, more than 100,000 writers from over 70 countries will begin a furious adventure in fiction. And while the event stresses fun and creative exploration over publication, sixteen NaNoWriMo novelists have had their NaNo-novels published.
Our very own Executive Director Stacy Ratner and Literacy Director Erin Walter are participating in this challenge. Be sure to stay tuned as they write their way to the happy ending of completing a novel in 30 days!
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Principals For A Day
Principals for a Day?! That's right; Stacy, Erin and Becca spent a day learning all about what it takes to be a principal as we shadowed Ms. Sonja James of Schiller Elementary School as part of the Chicago Principal for a Day program! This program is designed to foster productive relationships between Chicago businesses and their employees and Chicago Public Schools. In the upcoming months, Open Books will be taking Schiller Elementary under our wing and teaming up with them to provide books for their classes, volunteers to read to their students, and other outreach and field trip opportunities. Want to get involved? Email Erin to find out how you can help make a difference in a Schiller student's life.
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Sensational Swapping
A big thank you goes out to the Chicago Reader and their staff for hosting a great Book Swap event. We had a wonderful time helping to sort and move books (something we are VERY good at!). Thank you also to all our volunteers that came to help out. We ended the night with a lot of new friends and a wonderful collection of books for our cause. Win Win!
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Make Reading A Family Event!
Thursday, November 15 is Family Reading Night in Illinois! Turn off the TV, snuggle in under a warm blanket and fill your lap with your family. It's time to read a good book.
Other fun reading activities include:
Book Bingo - Use book titles and authors instead of the normal letters and numbers.
Make Bookmarks - Get out the crayons and markers and design your own creative page holder.
Word Games - After reading as a family, join in some friendly competition with word games like Scrabble or Boggle.
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Out Of The Box: Three Fabulous Finds
In the process of sorting thousands upon thousands of books, there are always a few that stand out. Here are our three favorites for the month.
1. Sodium: Think About It
 The pace of modern life is hectic. Meditation, mindful action, and other ways to help people decompress are on the rise. And thus in the spirit of guided imagery comes this thoughtful little volume with one and only one suggestion: that we all think about sodium. Can you picture it? Those square little white crystals falling to the bottom in relaxingly mindless patterns? The calm assertiveness of the type at the top? See? Feeling better already. Sodium. Think about it.
2. Law And Court Decisions On Agriculture, 1977
 In sorting boxes and boxes of books, we must confess we become jaded. "Oh," we might say, casting a bored look at this book, "look. Law and Court Decisions on Agriculture, 1977. How exciting." And we'd toss it aside and keep on sorting. "But, but!" you cry, opening the book at random. "Do you realize you have just disposed of a book containing not only the deathless sentence 'Respondent is also charged with violation of Water Rules 203(f) (causing stream's ammonia nitrogen to exceed acceptable levels), but also the phrase "'adjacent superincumbent'?" And we'd raise our eyebrows, and look at the boxes, and feel a little sheepish; but not for long, because we are 30 years too late to really appreciate the drama of it all.
3. The Vest-Pocket Marketer
 It has been said that there are as many ways to market products as there are products to market. (We did not say this. But someone must have.) Still, if we were tasked with marketing The Vest-Pocket Marketer, we would find it hard to come up with even one. For one thing, vests are in short supply. For another, they do not tend to have easily accessible pockets. And for a third, even if they were and did, the handy Vest-Pocket Marketer is a full blocky 486-page chunk of hardbound goodness measuring 4" x 9" x 1.5". Ah, the joys of marketing. Vest is best, except when it's not.
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