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Up And Coming
Pitchfork Music Festival
July 19-20
National Night Out
5 August
Eli's Cheesecake Farmers Market
14 August
21 August
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Open Mic:
Summer
Literacy Interns
Marie Elliott, Christine Blaine, Alex Heimbach, Lane Imberman, Vanessa Lee, Shara Zaval, Joia Williamson, Becky Eisinger and Ashley Keyser are summer literacy interns here at Open Books. We've got all summer to get to know them, but we started by asking...
How would you spend your last 24 hours if you knew the world would end in the morning?
ME: Eating delicious food, drinking delicious drinks, dancing delicious dances. And hugging as many people as possible, particularly my loved ones.
CB: I'd take my friends hiking somewhere delightfully dangerous and we'd have a campfire and sing our favorite songs all night.
AH: Wandering the city with friends, watching everyone go crazy over their impending doom.
LI: I would have a huge surf-and-turf barbecue with my family and friends. Lemon pepper shrimp, lobster tails smothered in drawn butter, bone-in PRIME rib eye (medium rare) with chipotle peppers, grilled portabella mushrooms and bell peppers, and for dessert, cold watermelon and chocolate sundaes. Ooh, and lots of pink lemonade to drink.
VL: I would do as much stuff that I could that I'd always been too afraid or too reserved to do, like hug random strangers, tell my family and friends that I loved them, dance on top of a bar, go sky diving...the sky is the limit.
SZ: I'd spend the day walking around a Cape Cod beach with my family and spend the night having a giant feast with all of my favorite foods with my family and best friends.
JW: Be with my family and shopping till the morning!
BE: I'd grab my climbing partners and go climb el Cap. We'd probably make it a quarter of the way up, but then we'd have an awesome view for the end of the world.
AK: I would watch the sun rise over the lake as I went swimming. Then I would bake a pie, possibly cherry, with lattice on top. After the pie cooled, I'd grab my tambourine and all my friends and together we'd drive to a mountain. We would also have a picnic basket full of treats, including the pie. On top of the mountain, we would eat said treats and play music as the last day ended.
What was your dream job when you were 5?
ME: I wanted to be a rock star and to have a pet giraffe.
CB: A paleontologist.
AH: Veterinarian. Creative, I know.
LI: I wanted to be a politician. I know much better now.
VL: When I was 5, I think that I wanted to be either a full-time princess or a preschool teacher.
SZ: I wanted to be a waitress at Friendly's restaurant so I could get free chicken fingers and ice cream sundaes. Very ambitious.
JW: To be a doctor and work for the weather channel.
BE: Veterinarian. That changed as soon as I found out chemistry would be involved.
AK: I want to say writer, but at that point I think I still wanted to be a ballerina. Or a mermaid.
If you could have dinner with 3 people (real or fictional), who would you invite and what would you eat?
ME: Socrates, John Lennon, and Ludwig van Beethoven. And I think I'd make it a potluck.
CB: Han Solo, Oskar from Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, and Dr. Emmett Brown. I'm hoping we can just ditch dinner and have an adventure instead, but if we need to fuel up, I'll take them to Gino's East.
AH: Saleem Sinai (of Midnight's Children), Elizabeth Bennett (of Pride and Prejudice), and Thursday Next (who has a whole series of novels named after her). We'd have spaghetti, because everyone looks ridiculous trying to eat it.
LI: Jon Stewart, my grandfather, Don Rickles.
VL: I would invite John Woods (founder of Room to Read), Anne from Anne of Green Gables, and Nelson Mandela. Definitely, we'd be eating traditional Chinese food and definitely there'd be something sweet at the end...something chocolate-y. As long as there's a good dessert the actual meal could be anything.
SZ: I'd invite Barack Obama, Conan O'Brien and Harry Potter. I'm not exactly sure what we'd eat, but it would definitely involve crab rangoons and chocolate mint brownies.
JW: Bow Wow, Angela Davis, Jill Scott. It would be at a fancy restaurant that serves hot bread and good steak plus the desserts have to be on point.
BE: Edward Said, Rory Stewart, Nicholas Kristof; Middle Eastern Cuisine.
AK: I would invite over Ira Glass, my public radio love, Maude (from the movie "Harold and Maude") and Bob Dylan, and we would eat my favorite feast, which is Ethiopian food - sweet sweet mashed vegetables and soft spongy bread.
What was your favorite childhood toy or game?
ME: My favorite activity was singing with my sisters, my favorite game was Twister.
CB: TMNT!
AH: The board game Life. I was also a really big fan of the game where you try to get across the room without touching the floor.
LI: I loved to play Candyland and to ride my big wheel. I once rode it down the stairs... not my best idea.
VL: I was obsessed with the game Life, because I always wanted to know what my life would be like in the future, and I thought that maybe I could do some fortune-telling by playing the game.
SZ: Dress-up for sure...I'd rarely be seen out of costume.
JW: Barbies. I had everything from the Corvette to the big gigantic house.
BE: I had this doll house my dad made for me that looked like our house. I played with that a lot.
AK: I miss Skip-It.
If you had one superpower, what would it be?
ME: Shapeshifting - the all-encompassing superpower.
CB: I would pick super speed. Like the Flash, having this one superpower leads to a multitude of additional side-effect powers. With super speed, you can become invisible, run on water, and possibly even turn back time.
AH: Probably telepathy, but if I got to choose then definitely weather control. Mostly to be able to shoot lightning bolts.
LI: I'd like to have Superman's powers. He could fly, had super strength, x ray vision, and super hearing. Can I have all those?
VL: I've always wanted the ability to read minds more than anything else.
SZ: I would be able to control time. Pause, rewind, fast forward...endless possibilities.
JW: To fly. I would go everywhere.
BE: Invisibility.
AK: Alex Mack-style, I'd melt into a luminous silver puddle.
What secret obsession do you have that no one knew about before this interview?
ME: None - I'm an OpenBook! :)
CB: DInosaurs. I just never grew out of it.
AH: Overacting. I find it endlessly amusing. This translates into a love of melodramatic TV and ridiculous action movies.
LI: I would die a happy man if could be a wine and cheese maker on a beautiful farm in central Italy, preferably somewhere in Umbria.
VL: Honestly, I have an obsession with dance...which people know about, but it's to the point where I'll just spend random moments looking up pictures of professional dancers on Flickr.
SZ: Well, some people knew it before this interview, but I'm weirdly obsessed with condiments. I have a ketchup key chain in my room and my friends nicknamed me H Mo after I brought home honey mustard from the student center and it burst all over my bag.
JW: Magazines. I've been a Seventeen member since 12 and now I'm into Cosmopolitan. I've collected Vibe, Teen Vogue, Jet, and Essence. I always had to get each month and I'm still like that.
BE: I really like chocolate cake. And donuts.
AK: Gypsies! Also, Prague.
What makes you laugh uncontrollably?
ME: Good satire and bad dancing, especially when the two are combined.
CB: Most recently, an episode of This American Life where someone is offered an investment opportunity that involves a snowman that can bench-press 400 pounds. The follow-up questions to that kind of situation are just unthinkable!
AH: When people get cliches wrong. For instance, my mom has a tendency to say "nip it in the butt" instead of "nip it in the bud."
LI: When Kramer from Seinfeld tries to speak French. George Carlin, and Dave Chapelle impersonating Rick James.
VL: Watching two of my friends' "relationship" develop makes me crack up every single time, because they are the most unlikely pair I've ever seen and they play tricks on each other all the time by enlisting friends for help.
SZ: Basically everything, literally. I have been known to fall off chairs from uncontrollable laughter more often than what most would consider normal.
JW: The Will & Grace Show and Katt Williams.
BE: David Vock's laugh. It is the greatest, most unique sound you'll ever hear.
AK: Poop jokes, always.
What book are you reading right now?
ME: Emma by Jane Austen and The Beautiful and Damned by F. Scott Fitzgerald.
CB: Salt: A World History.
AH: The Brothers Karamozov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky.
LI: God of War and a collection of Shakespeare poems.
VL: The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox.
SZ: The Brief Wonderful Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz.
JW: Thank You For Being Difficult!
BE: I'm double fisting with The Constant Gardener by John le Carre and The Shia Revival by Vali Nasr.
AK: Milan Kundera's The Curtain, a long essay on the novel, and Mukiwa: A White Boy in Africa by Peter Godwin, his memoir of growing up in Zimbabwe.
What is your favorite ice cream flavor?
ME: Cinnamon or peppermint.
CB: Chocolate mint, hands down.
AH: Coffee. And raspberry (ice cream, not sorbet), when I can find it.
LI: Caramel Praline Pecan.
VL: Mint Chocolate Chip rules!
SZ: Edy's Thin Mint.
JW: Black Walnut and Cake Batter.
BE: M&M Blizzards.
AK: Moose Tracks.
What is playing on your iPod these days?
ME: The new GirlTalk album "Feed the Animals", Common's "BE", and "Oracular Spectacular" by MGMT.
CB: A little band from Los Angeles called The Ditty Bops.
AH: Tegan and Sara, The National, and Wolf Parade.
LI: Country music! Not the new trendy stuff. I like to keep it old school.
VL: I'm obsessed with Sara Bareilles and Colbie Caillat.
SZ: I've recently become obsessed with M.I.A.
JW: Raheem Devaughn, Ashanti, Lil Wayne, Cool Kids.
BE: Amos Lee, Ben Folds, and some Fleetwood Mac.
AK: Bob Dylan's been working overtime. Also a lot of Bonnie "Prince" Billy, Cat Power and Devendra Banhart.
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Happy summer, everyone! The months of May and June were our busiest ever! In this special double issue of our newsletter we will take you through all of the amazing things that have been happening at Open Books and give you the sneak preview of what is to come.
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May! What Can We Say?
May was a full month of exciting events. Here is a quick look of everything that happened!
1. The month kicked off with a rockin', Open Books-sponsored concert, the Hidden Mitten's 1st Annual Spring Sock Hop at the Empty Bottle. Author Thax Douglas introduced bands with his poetry, and revelers took home prize books donated by The Onion.
2. Open Books brought the Kohl McCormick StoryBus to three South Side Chicago neighborhoods in May. Children of all ages played with hands-on exhibits and games, and were given free books to take home!
3. Schiller Elementary School was the recipient of a new Reading Garden! Kids from that school wrote in their writing workshops that they wished their neighborhood had more plants, flowers and trees. With a crew of volunteers, Open Books staff and the Schiller students, the new garden was put in on May 22. Special thanks to Christy Webber Landscapes and the Chicago Botanic Garden for their incredible support! To learn more about the Garden and how you can help us expand it in the fall, check out the Garden page at our site.
4. Open Books was the volunteer fuel behind another successful Chicago Reader Book Swap. We are always excited to help participate in this event because we make new friends and often find a few new books to take home as well!
5. The perfect way to end the month was with the Corliss Young Authors Gala Event! A very special thank you goes to 57th Street Books, Eli's Cheesecake and Treasure Island for providing the venue and refreshments. Many proud friends and family members filled the rooms of the bookstore to congratulate the young authors and to purchase copies of their work.
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Open Books was thrilled to be a contributing sponsor at this year's Printers Row Book Fair, on June 7th and 8th.
Open Books' mini-store exhibit reached thousands of readers and book lovers. Our staff and interns were on hand to spread awareness about the problems of illiteracy and recruit new volunteers to help us with our many programs. Two writing workshops were led by the literacy team and our amazing students were given the opportunity to share their words on the Poetry Stage. And we collected books donated by fairgoers and exhibitors as well as provided the fair with its volunteer staff.
It was an exciting week of book selling, friend making and thunderstorm avoiding fun. We ended up making over $3,800 for literacy from the sale of books, t-shirts and buttons!! Make sure to check out the photos, and if you missed it this year, we hope you'll join us in 2009!
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Growing Programs = Your Help Needed!
Greetings from the Literacy Department! Our creative writing field trips and reading buddies programs are expanding as we speak and Open Books needs YOUR HELP to make it happen!
Here's where you are needed MOST:
1. We start a NEW 4-week Open Books Buddies reading program THIS WEDNEDAY (9-10 a.m.) in North Lawndale (3415 W. Arthington at Holy Family Lutheran School). It's very easy to get to by highway or the Blue Line. Go to our Volunteer page to sign up -- or refer someone you know! WE NEED LOTS MORE BIG BUDDIES. More buddies are also welcome at our Irving Park site!
2. Our creative writing field trips have just been expanded to welcome 4th-12th graders! Tell any educators or youth leaders you know! More info and sign up forms are on our Programs page. 3. Sign up to volunteer with our new partner Sit Stay Read or for new programs from longtime favorites like Blue Gargoyle and many more! The Volunteer page is updated weekly!
Thanks so much to those who are helping this summer! You ARE Open Books! -- Erin Walter, Literacy Director
P.S. - Look for the Open Books team at the Pitchfork Music Festival (July 18-20) and the 21st District's National Night Out event (6-8 p.m. Aug. 5 at Gwendolyn Brooks Park)! Maps and details are on our Events page.
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Deal Or No Deal!
Open Books' Dani Brzozowski has applied to represent Open Books as a contestant on NBC's 'Deal or No Deal.' The goal here is to raise money (ONE MILLION DOLLARS!) for Open Books, draw nationwide attention to our mission, and advocate for the cause. In addition to a shiny, bubbly, very hard-to-miss application package, we've written a petition to show the Deal or No Deal producers just how much support Open Books has.
Steps you can (and should!) take to support Open Books on Deal or No Deal:
#1: Sign the petition.
#2: Forward said petition to everyone you know.
#3: Post the petition link on your Facebook page, your Myspace page, your blog, etc., etc., etc.
#4: Keep your fingers crossed and your eyes open for news...as soon as we hear from NBC, we'll let you all know!
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Book Sorting And Pickups
Thanks to an exciting month of book events and collections our warehouse is filling fast. In order to keep up with the growing stacks of books, we are implementing new inventory ideas. We will continue to take in books, but in order to efficiently catalogue and organize them, we are in need of... computers!
If you or someone you know has an older machine (that works) and are getting rid of it, please consider donating it to us. You would be keeping it out of a landfill and helping out your favorite literacy organization. All donations are tax deductible and we would greatly appreciate it!
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Schiller Students Speak!
Open Books Podcast #3 is up and running! Learn about Open Books' literacy programs at Schiller Elementary School
through the voices of students, staff, and volunteers. Student poetry
recitations included. Looking for more? You can find all our amazing podcasts and
future editions on Apple's iTunes. Tell all your friends and family to
subscribe now!
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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. 40 Ways To Tie A Scarf
 It is a cool 90 in the shade outside. Pedestrians below are attired in as little as possible. And of all the items we could be wearing today, we would have put scarves at the bottom of the list right next to mittens and earmuffs...until, that is, we found this handy book. "Tie a scarf and add a sensational touch of class to any ensemble!" it cries, and then obligingly provides not only 30+ variations on tying Square, Bias, and Oblong scarves, but also several pages of Scarves As Belts and even, in an inclusive gesture seemingly designed for summer, Decorating With Scarves. A whole summer of scarves stretches invitingly out before us now. We can hardly wait.
2. Shock Shots: Vampires
 Vlad Tepes. Arnold Pauley. Lady Bathory. And a host of other caped, fanged, bloodsucking vampires...in a handy pocket size! Are you worried, as surely we all must be, about encountering a vampire in your high-rise condo? The authentically tattered covers of this lifesaving manual may be a mere 4" high, but contained within are no fewer than three failsafe ways to escape that lingering threat. Yes, that is indeed a vampire guide in our pocket. And yes, if you have one as well, we are also glad to see you.
3. Cooking Without Frontiers
 It was with the pleasing sensation of being firmly back in our proper place that we took up this volume, confident that we would once more be ending the column with a nasty old cookbook. Picture, then, our simultaneous joy and chagrin at discovering that it is not only a compendium of such luscious recipes as Swiss Cheese Pie and Brown Cabbage Soup, but -- and, some would argue, overwhelmingly -- a photographic travel guide for jet-setting shallots. Who is that small beige traveler perched alluringly among a rockful of dead fish in the 2-page photo spread of Portugal? Is it merely a strong family resemblance that makes us recognize it again on a stone ledge in Austria (set somewhat bewilderingly next to a creamy pastry and cup of coffee), half-buried in the sand among the stranded lobsters of South Africa, or gazing out over the field to the windmills of Spain? Travel on, fearless frontier-lacking shallot! For only thus can you, and all your remarkably identical family, avoid the Soupe a l'Oignon fate awaiting you on p. 73, and none of us would wish to see that happen.
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