You say kids today don't read?

Well, I would like to offer you the opportunity to do something about that. It's called the Battle of the Books Team.

As you may or may not know, I spent many years in the classroom as a high school English teacher. Today, I am very fortunate to be able to write full time, but I still have friends who are there doing the good work in the trenches to light that love for reading in the kids they see every day. Without people like that, there may not be the readers in the future to support the publishing industry.

I think these folks are nothing less than heroes, and I’d like to introduce you to one of them: my friend Barbara who works as the media specialist (aka librarian) at Miramar High school in Florida where 65% of the students are on free/or reduced lunch.

Barbara has come up with a plan to get her students to go to the countywide Battle of the Books competition. First, they have to read the 15 books on the Florida Teens Reads list. These are not the literature they might be reading in English class — they are high-interest, very current novels as seen in this video.

Barbara wants to hook her kids on reading by using the allure of competition, technology and reading ebooks. She has a plan to buy 12 Kindles for her school’s media center and load them up with the Florida Teens Reads books, as well as the thousands of classic and public domain books that are available for free.

But she needs help. Barbara has started a Donors Choose campaign to raise the money to purchase these Kindles. If you want to learn more about how Donors Choose works, click here.

This is the season of gift giving and generosity. Give up one treat for yourself this week and help a kid to learn to love reading. Maybe eat at home instead of going out. Pass on that Starbucks stop. It doesn't have to be much. Whatever you can afford to donate will help this dedicated teacher light that flame.

And you know what? You just might be helping to create the future readers who will buy your books!

Please, click on this link Battle of the Books Team and the next time somebody tells you that kids today don’t read, stand up and say, “Yes, they do when there is someone around to encourage them—and I am one of those people.”

Fair winds!

Christine