|
|
|
|
|
Up And Coming
|
Open Books Orientations
December 2
December 16
WeWrite Sessions
Creative Writing
Workshops:
November 4, 11, and 18
Professional Writing
Workshops:
December 2, 9, and 16
GRAND OPENING WEEKEND
November 21-22
NaNoWriMoFiMa09
November 30
Check our Events page
for full details and other upcoming happenings!
|
Put It In Words
|
Put your name on the new bookstore
and literacy center before we open!
Visit www.open-books.org/store
TODAY to buy a bookshelf
plate, dedicate a reading table, or sponsor a classroom!
|
|
Membership Matters
|
Become an Open Books member today and enjoy exclusive benefits while supporting
vital literacy programming in Chicago!
Visit www.open-books.org/membership
and declare your
love for reading.
|
Open Mic:
Kevin Elliott
This
month's 10 questions are answered by our new Bookstore Manager, Kevin Elliott!
Kevin will be in charge of running our fabulous new bookstore and overseeing
the loads of books that come in.
Read on and see what he would ask Barack Obama and what his highest paying job to date has been.
|
|
|
By The Numbers
|
Open Books collected
9,800
books
in October
and has collected
295,450 books
total to date!
|
Story Of The Month
|
This week, Open Books Fellow Brittany Baker led a field trip based on
Sandra Cisneros' The House on Mango Street. 8th
grade students from Jenner Academy of the Arts were asked to create prose about
their families using descriptive language. The
following piece was one of our absolute favorites!
My Nephew
by Shelley
|
Artists Wanted!
|
Open Books needs artists to illustrate stories for a new literacy project! A volunteer workshop will be held Saturday, November 7, from 10:30 am-12:00 noon at Open Books' fantastic new literacy center.
Please email Brittany (bbaker@open-books.org)
if you're interested or know a potential volunteer illustrator we should contact!
|
Book Report
|
Open Books knows you have
stacks and stacks of great books piling up around your house. Our amazing bookstore, where we raise
money for literacy programs, is opening THIS MONTH -- and we need your
books! All genres are welcome. Your
donation ensures that we will have fully stocked shelves and a fabulous
collection to help raise money for literacy programs!
Visit our donation page for more information.
|
Have you moved? Changed email addresses? Altered your schedule for volunteering?
Let us know at
updates@open-books.org!
|
|
|
The Grandest Of All Months...
Is Here!
 Supporters, volunteers, students, and friends of Open Books, we have been waiting three years to send you this paragraph. It is with joy practically beyond expression that we wholeheartedly invite you to join us at...
The GRAND OPENING
November 21-22
10am - 7pm
213 W. Institute Pl.
Join us as we finally open
our doors and welcome all booklovers to our flagship store and literacy center! There will be books to buy,
author readings, puppet shows, storytime, tours of our new classrooms, and much more, and
all proceeds will help fund our stellar literacy programs.
|
Educators: Sign Up Now For Programs In 2010!
Open Books has room in three of our programs for winter/spring 2010! Space is
limited, so spread the word to teachers and administrators you know ASAP
and have them contact us via our web site.
- Open Books Buddies reading mentor
program (during or after school for 2nd grade+);
- VWrite college and career
writing and mentoring (teens); and
- Adventures in
Creative Writing field trips (4th-12th grades). NOTE: With our new literacy center opening, we can handle two
classes at a time starting in December. So sign up, fill up your school bus,
and come on down for writing fun!
Three cheers for VWrite
students and mentors! On October 6, Open Books volunteers and
participants in the VWrite program
gathered at Gage Park High for a meet-and-greet event. It was one of our
favorites nights ever. Check out the photos and read volunteer Nicole Bowman's perspective! Keep up the great work, VWriters!
WeWrite, our creative writing workshops for adults and teens, kicked off this week in the new Open Books literacy center! We were thrilled to have 30 writers and 15 volunteer coaches on hand to christen the new 2nd floor classrooms with inspiring stories and poems. Check out photos and learn how to participate.
Open Books Buddies latest sites for fall -- Mitchell, Goethe, and Oakton -- are up and
running and off to a stellar start! Thank you, volunteers! It brightens our day
to receive wonderful e-mails from mentors who are forging big bonds over books.
Check out one buddy's strategies for making the most of his time with his student.
Inspiration from Steppenwolf and
Cisneros
In October, Open Books and our partners at Steppenwolf Theatre celebrated
Sandra Cisneros' seminal Chicago book, The
House on Mango Street, with new field trips and a new show. Read all about it on our blog!
Calling all interns!
The Open Books literacy department
is seeking applications for winter/spring interns to start in January. Visit http://open-books.org/jobs.php
for directions on how to apply for this awesome and enriching opportunity.
|
Volunteer Vanguard
In October, 105 volunteers signed up to join Open
Books in the literacy cause. Whether this meant reading with a student
at Open Books Buddies, spending an inspiring morning at an Adventures in Creative Writing field trip, becoming a virtual mentor in
VWrite, helping as a writing coach in WeWrite, or painting in our new space during Volunteer Work Days, thank you! To join these fabulous people -- plus 2,300+ others -- sign up and RSVP for an orientation now!
Join the Inaugural
Group of Open Books Store Volunteers!
Who will advise Open Books shoppers on great
novels and help fill the shelves with newly donated
books? Our amazing volunteers, of course! Bookworms and bibliophiles, apply now to become one of the first Open Books store volunteers and attend our November trainings!
Double the Field
Trips, Double the Fun
Come December, we will be hosting twice the number of field
trips in our new literacy center! This means twice the number of writing
coaches, too! If you have been considering your triumphant return to field
trips, or even perhaps your grand debut, now is the time! Please send any
questions or RSVPs to Ava (azeligson@open-books.org).
Looking for another great way to get involved in our
Adventures in Creative Writing field trips? Well, twice as many field trips
also means twice as many field trip leaders! Open Books is on the lookout for
enthusiastic, inspiring, pencil costume-loving volunteers who are interested in
becoming field trip leaders. If you would like to move to the front of the
class, let Anna (apiepmeyer@open-books.org) know!
|
Home Depot and Behr Paint To The Rescue!
 It started with a phone call to Gina
at Home Depot in Lincoln Park. We were looking for a little assistance to cover the
painting expenses for Open Books' new bookstore and literacy center. To our amazement and
delight, Gina put her resources into action. In just a few short days, she
introduced us to Jay from Behr Paint (who donated over 75 gallons of paint) and
helped us receive a $5,000 grant from Home Depot to cover our supply
expenses (ladders, drop cloths, rollers, and painter's tape really add up!). And as
if that wasn't enough, Gina even organized a Team Depot volunteer event at Open Books to help us paint our walls. What a dream!
Eighteen paint colors, 158 walls, and 30+ Home Depot volunteers later, we had at least one
coat on every wall, and our retail space and office are fabulous, bright and magical! Open Books sends out a BIG THANK YOU to
Home Depot and Behr Paint for their incredible generosity and dedication to
this project. They are examples of employees and companies working together to
make a difference in our community.
If you would like to learn more about how
you or your company can get involved at Open Books, please contact Stacy Shafer
Peterson at ssp@open-books.org or (312) 492-4085. We count on your generosity to
help fight illiteracy in Chicago!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Open Books is a nonprofit social venture that operates an extraordinary bookstore, provides community programs, and mobilizes passionate volunteers to promote literacy in Chicago and beyond. We enhance lives through reading, writing, and the NEWSWORTHY power of used books. To learn more about us and find out how you can get involved, visit us at http://www.open-books.org!
|
|
|
