Guest post by Jean Reidy, children’s author and activist

My third children’s book, Light Up the Night (Disney Hyperion), was inspired by every kid who throws a sheet over the kitchen table and calls it a clubhouse. It’s for every kid who makes a fort out of couch cushions. And it’s especially for every kid who huddles down under a blanket at night ─ where safety and security reign, allowing imagination to blast off. It’s about earth, space and a kid’s sense of place.

It took me 3 years of attending college to convince my recently Ph.D.-ed mother that it wasn’t the right time for me to be in college. I couldn’t have explained it well then, and I’m still not sure if I could explain it well now. But I didn’t feel like the school system was for me. School was a pivot table, and I was abstract art. Luckily, my parents are amazing people who understand the importance of being true to who you are.

My family prizes education. I think that’s probably why so many of them got intentionally involved in the educational system. My dad started a high school and was the administrator, as well as taught everything from maths to history for 17 years. My mom taught at the same high school while finishing her bachelor’s, earning her master’s, and then her Ph.D.. She’s now a professor at a university (the same university I attended while trying to convince her to let me quit, naturally). My grandmother started and ran an elementary school for years. My uncle took over as administrator when my grandmother retired; he also taught in the school. Another uncle taught music, an aunt taught piano, and the list goes on.

After I left college, degreeless, I worked as an administrative assistant in higher education. I took time to broaden my knowledge, hone my skills, strengthen my abilities, and find my passions. Then, I found a place where I could not only use my KSAs, but also was encouraged to have shared passion with my company and coworkers. The fact that I didn’t have a degree didn’t deter my hiring manager from seeing that customer service was my art and my passion.

Still, I almost never feel comfortable admitting the fact that I didn’t finish college. It makes me feel inferior, inadequate. I love knowledge. I’m an information junkie. And when I found out that a (degreed) guy said he wouldn’t want to date me because I was “too smart,” I laughed. And then I got to thinking: my level of formal education has nothing to do with how smart I am and has nothing to do with my value. I am a smart person! It was a revelation.

Before I read Out of Our Minds and The Element (both by Sir Ken Robinson), I would have been surprised to hear someone say they see a little of their own story in mine. Growing up, I felt like a fish out of water. I felt like everyone else was just sailing through college like they were meant to be there. And I was definitely the odd one out.

The Element is full of stories: stories about people who thrived once they found where their passions and skills intersected, stories about people who believed in someone, stories that will resonate with you, stories about people you will recognize with backgrounds you’d never guess. Reading The Elementwill make you feel like it’s okay to be you. It should also make you want to mentor someone like you (and your version of someone like you might open quite broadly after reading it).
So I’ll leave you with this to ponder, and hope it spurs you on not only to read these books, but also to share them, and then to make a difference in whatever way you can, even if it’s just in one person’s small life.

There has been quite the uproar online the past week about two articles which discussed the issue of libraries actually throwing away books. First, Cracked.com wrote about the problem. Then, NPR responded and elaborated. Now, it’s our turn to show these news outlets and book lovers around the world how we are the solution.

I interviewed our library experts at Better World Books about how we serve and work with libraries to help them responsibly handle their surplus books, make money, and make the world more literate in the process.

Question: The Cracked.com and NPR stories about book-burning and trashing at libraries around the world is shocking news. Is it true? Do libraries really sometimes throw away, or even burn, books?

Answer: Yes, they sometimes have to throw away books but we haven’t heard of anyone burning books. Librarians regularly need to make room for updated editions, yet struggle to find an easy and comprehensive way to move out old stock. They often do not have recycling contracts, and no environmentally responsible outlet for getting rid of their used books.

Some libraries have terrific Friends groups that sell some of the material, and some books can be donated, but often much remains. Some libraries just don’t have the resources to sell, donate, and find recyclers for these materials. Hence the late night dumpster runs.

And no one is more troubled than librarians themselves.  

You can learn even more about our love for working with and serving libraries in this recent Sustainable Life Media news article about Better World Books: How Dumpster Diving Can Be A New Business Metric.

Q: Why do libraries get rid of these books which have so much life left in them? Is it really cost-saving?

A: In some cases, libraries have no choice.  Laws vary from state to state and some make it difficult for libraries to find a solution for their weeded materials. And in some cases, they are not aware of the options available to them. There are libraries who throw books away, those who recycle their books, and those who have them sold on their behalf, many times through Better World Books.

Q: Where do we, Better World Books, come in? How did we find out about the library book throw-away crisis and when did we decide to help?

A: It was at the American Library Association conference that we first heard librarians admit they were sneaking out to the dumpster to throw books in the trash. They just didn’t have an outlet for the books they took out of circulation.

The librarians saw that we had an ideal platform for selling those books to generate revenue for the library. Suddenly, we were popular folks at that conference, and a major strategic decision for our business was born.

Q: How many libraries do we partner with?

A: We partner with over 3,000 libraries across the U.S, Canada, and the U.K.  Libraries ship books to us free of charge.

Q: How much do libraries have to pay us to help them with their used books?A: Nothing! We often hear that our program is “too good to be true.” There are no service agreements (unless requested), sign-up fees, monthly fees or one-time fees. We understand the budget constraints many libraries across the nation are facing and as a result charge nothing. 

Q: What’s in it for the libraries? How do they benefit from partnering with us?

A: Libraries partnering with us receive commission for books sold from their inventory shipped to Better World Books. In addition, the program serves as an outlet for their unwanted books.  Books sold from their inventory also benefit a local or international literacy partner that Better World Books and the library support.   

Books from their inventory that cannot be sold are donated.  And only as a last resort, are books recycled. Better World Books has never placed a book in landfill.

To date, we have raised over $10 million for our literacy and library partners across the U.S and around the world. This includes over $4.5 million to directly support libraries.

Q: How else do we partner with libraries?

A: We have reclaimed more than 720,000 pounds of metal shelving from libraries across the United States.

We also support libraries through our partnerships with literacy non-profits such as the National Center for Family Literacy (NCFL), which is the worldwide leader in family literacy. More than one-million families have made positive educational and economic gains as a result of NCFL’s work, which includes training more than 150,000 teachers and thousands of volunteers in communities, schools and libraries across America.

Better World Books has also provided libraries all over the world with grants to support much needed programs.  Check out the grant info here.

Q: Do we ever throw a book away?

A: No. We are very conscious about our environment and we have an active recycling program. If we determine that a book does not meet our criteria or cannot be sold due to its condition, then we will recycle the book. Books that do not sell after a given period of time are collected and prepared for distribution to our Non-Profit Literacy Partners or recycled in an environmentally responsible manner. To date, we have re-used or recycled over 70 million pounds of books – that’s over 57 million books!

We hope this message gets across to everyone concerned about books being thrown away. Please share our story and let us know your thoughts…

The question: Collecting a top 10 list of the best author quotes ever made. Short and sweet. What are your favs?

The answers made my day. I hope they inspire yours as well:
“Today, I understand something I didn’t see before: every blessing ignored becomes a curse.” – The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

“You can’t depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus.” – Mark Twain

“At some point in life the world’s beauty becomes enough. You don’t need to photograph, paint or even remember it. It is enough.” – Toni Morrison

“In the depths of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer.” – Albert Camus

“A sad soul can kill you quicker, far quicker, than a germ.” – John Steinbeck

“If I should ever die, God forbid, let this be my epitaph: The only proof he needed for the existence of God was music.” – Man Without a Country by Kurt Vonnegut

“All that is gold does not glitter, not all those who wander are lost; the old that is strong does not wither, deep roots are not reached by the frost.” – J.R.R. Tolkien

“Life is too important to be taken seriously” – Oscar Wilde

‎”No need to hurry. No need to sparkle. No need to be anybody but oneself.” – Virginia Woolf

“Nature and books belong to the eyes that see them.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Nothing of me is original. I am the combined effort of everybody I’ve ever known.” – Chuck Palahniuk

“Once you learn to read, you will be forever free.” – Frederick Douglass

What is your personal favorite author quote? What does it mean to you?

As a book company that funds and promotes literacy and education at home and all over the world, we love many authors and books. Recently, however, I have been particularly inspired by a series of love letters our fans have written to us, Better World Books, on their blogs. In this spirit, I felt led to write a love letter to one of my favorite authors.
Dear Kathryn, I read your book over Thanksgiving weekend in the crisp fall of 2009. I have no idea how it took until November for me to read your novel which debuted that February. It sat on my bookshelf begging to be opened, but I let work and life get in the way. Foolish me. “The Help” offered me a better perspective on work and on life. Growing up a sixth generation Georgian, I have been fascinated by Southern folklore, human and civil rights, social justice, and love of tradition my entire life. My deep roots here drew me to learn more. I have always dreamed of being able to adequately explain the real, and often times, positive interconnectedness between these Southern and social passions. This led me, a musically inept young lady, to learn how to play the banjo.

Through my musical journey across bluegrass, folk and rock & roll, I discovered their roots in blues and jazz. About the same time, I began diving deep into every class the University of Virginia offered on the history of the American South. Music was at the core of Southern culture and movements. It did not take much digging for this short, blonde, y’all-sayer to find where our beautiful music came from. So I finished the American history and politics classes and started cramming in every course I found on Africa.

My college thesis states that the civil rights movement could not have been successful if it were not for the songs and spirit brought over on the slave ships and strengthened across the Atlantic from Africa to the cotton fields to the white only lunch counters.

Your book is a better version of my thesis. It’s what I had been thinking about for years. It answers the questions I was sometimes afraid to ask. It goes beyond the music to the heart of the conflicts and beauties behind race relations in the American South. It is more lovely than Hilly’s home, more delicious than Minny’s chocolate pie and (my sweet mother might cry at me for saying this) more real than “Gone with the Wind.”

Rumor on the street is that you actually live in the same town as me and Better World Books. It would be an honor, much like how Skeeter felt when Elaine Stein called her from New York City, for you to kindly reply and perhaps even share your story with the Better World Books community.

In admiration,
Erin Levin
Community Manager, Better World Books

About the book

In pitch-perfect voices, Kathryn Stockett creates three extraordinary women whose determination to start a movement of their own forever changes a town, and the way women, mothers, daughters, caregivers and friends view one another. A deeply moving novel filled with poignancy, humor, and hope, The Help is a timeless and universal story about the lines we abide by, and the ones we don’t.

About the author

Kathryn Stockett was born and raised in Jackson, Mississippi. After graduating from the University of Alabama with a degree in English and Creative Writing, she moved to New York City where she worked in magazine publishing and marketing for nine years. She currently lives in Atlanta with her family. The Help is her first novel.

Discussion questions from the publisher

1. Who was your favorite character? Why?
2. What do you think motivated Hilly? On the one hand she is terribly cruel to Aibileen and her own help, as well as to Skeeter once she realizes that she can’t control her. Yet she’s a wonderful mother. Do you think that one can be a good mother but, at the same time, a deeply flawed person?
3. Like Hilly, Skeeter’s mother is a prime example of someone deeply flawed yet somewhat sympathetic. She seems to care for Skeeter— and she also seems to have very real feelings for Constantine. Yet the ultimatum she gives to Constantine is untenable; and most of her interaction with Skeeter is critical. Do you think Skeeter’s mother is a sympathetic or unsympathetic character? Why?
4. How much of a person’s character would you say is shaped by the times in which they live?
5. Did it bother you that Skeeter is willing to overlook so many of Stuart’s faults so that she can get married, and that it’s not until he literally gets up and walks away that the engagement falls apart?
6. Do you believe that Minny was justified in her distrust of white people?
7. Do you think that had Aibileen stayed working for Miss Elizabeth, that Mae Mobley would have grown up to be racist like her mother? Do you think racism is inherent, or taught?
8. From the perspective of a twenty-first century reader, the hairshellac system that Skeeter undergoes seems ludicrous. Yet women still alter their looks in rather peculiar ways as the definition of “beauty” changes with the times. Looking back on your past, what’s the most ridiculous beauty regimen you ever underwent?
9. The author manages to paint Aibileen with a quiet grace and an aura of wisdom about her. How do you think she does this?
10. Do you think there are still vestiges of racism in relationships where people of color work for people who are white?
11. What did you think about Minny’s pie for Miss Hilly? Would you have gone as far as Minny did for revenge?

October Better World Book Club selection

In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez

Set during the waning days of the Trujillo dictatorship in the Dominican Republic in 1960, this extraordinary novel tells the story the Mirabal sisters, three young wives and mothers who are assassinated after visiting their jailed husbands.

Of course, Blubber isn’t the only book that’s been challenged or banned.  J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, first published in 1960, has met challenges shortly after it’s publication through today.  A Wrinkle in Time, a science fiction-fantasy novel geared towards young adult readers (and one of my personal favorites), was number 22 on the American Library’s Association’s list of most challenged books from 1990-2000 for it’s frequent references to witchcraft and crystal balls.  More recently, And Tango Makes Three, the 2005 story of two male penguins who raise a motherless chick together, has also met repeated challenges.

Since 1982, Banned Books Week has raised awareness for books that have been challenged or banned.  Libraries and bookstores around the county coordinate events to celebrate the freedom to read these books.

We’d love to hear from from you–do you have a banned books story to share?

More times than not, after people discover TNBBC and its blog, they will ask me “So, what got you into reading?” and I always find it difficult to answer that question. Not because I don’t know the answer, but mostly because it’s not as easy to define as one would think.

See, initially, I owe my love of reading to my mother. She planted the seed at young age with weekly trips to the library. I remember hiding out in my bedroom, reading ravenously, finishing the books I’d borrowed days before our next scheduled trip. I remember peeking through my mother’s bookshelves, and sneaking down a copy of Stephen King’s IT when I was 12, and terrifying the crap out of myself for weeks yet refusing to put it down because it was just that good. I remember going through a period of reading only the books that my high school English Lit classes assigned us and simultaneously enjoying them while being somewhat underwhelmed by them. And somehow, shortly after that, reading sort of fell to the wayside.

Then I suddenly fell back into a regular reading pattern as an adult. At first, I would read what was lying around, and then run out to the bookstore to buy another book when I was done. Soon, I was buying three or four at a time. Before I knew it, I was buying more books in a week than I could read, and was building up quite a backlog. When I had bought all of the books I had wanted, I started searching online for books that were similar to the ones I had been reading, and adding them to my to-buy list.

It was around this time that I discovered Goodreads.com. Goodreads offers readers a way to “shelve” and track the books they want to buy, bought but haven’t read, and we can post reviews on the ones we have read. The site also gives readers a way to connect with other readers via book groups, many of which I quickly joined. Disappointed with the participation in the existing groups, I decided to create a group of my own. I wanted it to be a place where readers could recommend books to each other, and talk about which books they were buying, and reading, and enjoying. I wanted to find people out there who were like me, endlessly seeking the next best book. Thus I christened the group “The Next Best Book Club.”

J.K. Rowling

Jane Austen

John Steinbeck

C.S. Lewis

Stephen King

Maya Angelou

James Patterson

John Irving

Nicholas Sparks

Kurt Vonnegut

Where could a textbook be more important than in a school where students will eagerly sit in the hot desert sand for a chance to learn from teachers who have little more education than themselves?  Where could a thrilling story bring a greater sense of escape or hope than in a camp where refugees have been stuck for eight years, with no prospect of returning home?How can we get Darfuri refugees the books they need? You can help by simply buying a book for yourself.

Credit: UNHCR / H. Caux
Caption: A young mother attends class with her baby on her back in Djabal refugee camp. Many girls drop out of school or attend classes very irregularly once they get married and even more when they have babies. Early marriages and early pregnancies- as young as 11 or 12- prevent girls from having even basic education. Djabal, eastern Chad, August 10, 2007.

Memorial Day weekend always marks the beginning of summer and typically means time outside, under the sun, and perhaps on the water.  This year, I aim to do all three… but after my adventures of the past year, I’ll view the weekend and its Monday holiday in a different way.

A brief history of the prize:

The first Pulitzer Prizes were awarded June 4, 1917 and they are now announced each April. The prize was founded by Joseph Pulitzer, a well established journalist and newspaper publisher.

You can dig deeper and learn more about the Pulitzer Prize by reading these books:

• Pulitzer Prize Editorials
• Written Into History
• Pulitzer: A Life in Politics, Print and Power
• An Adventure with a Genius: Recollections of Joseph Pulitzer

Congratulations to this year’s winners!

• Fiction: for distinguished fiction by an American author, preferably dealing with American life – A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan (Alfred A. Knopf)
• History: for a distinguished book on the history of the United States – The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery by Eric Foner (W. W. Norton & Company)
• Biography: for a distinguished biography or autobiography by an American author – Washington: A Life by Ron Chernow (The Penguin Press)
• Poetry: for a distinguished volume of original verse by an American poet – The Best of It: New and Selected Poems by Kay Ryan (Grove Press)
• Non-fiction: for a distinguished book of non-fiction by an American author that is not eligible for consideration in any other category – The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer by Siddhartha Mukherjee (Scribner)

We are also happy for the other nominated works:

• The Privileges - Fiction
• The Surrendered – Fiction
• Confederate Reckoning: Power and Politics in the Civil War South – History
• Eden on the Charles: The Making of Boston - History
• The Publisher: Henry Luce and His American Century – Biography
• Mrs. Adams in Winter: A Journey in the Last Days of Napoleon – Biography
• The Common Man – Poetry
• Break the Glass - Poetry
• The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains - Non-fiction
• Empire of the Summer Moon: Quanah Parker and the Rise and Fall of the Comanches, the Most Powerful Indian Tribe in American History - Non-fiction

Have YOU read any of these winning books? What did you like about them? Let this be your forum for Pulitzer Prize winner discussion…

Feel free to show your friends how smart you are by sharing this post. Thank you – we <3 books and you!

We here at Better World Books hope we’re one of the stores you love!  We’re proud to support literacy, books and a love of reading every day and in honor of National Bookstore Day we’re offering you a great deal!

Just enter the coupon code BOOKSTOREDAY at checkout to get 20% off 3 or more used books.  Offer good today only!

And if you’re in the neighborhood, be sure to visit our brick and mortar locations:

Better World Books Goshen
118 E. Washington Street
Goshen, IN 46528
Phone: 574-534-1984

Better World Books Outlet Store
55740 Currant Road
Mishawaka, IN 46545
Phone: 574-968-9701

Rather, I’m inviting you to join Better World Books in celebrating Banned Books Week!

Banned Books Week is a time to celebrate and practice intellectual freedom by reading books that various groups have banned for all kinds of ridiculous reasons – usually related to sexual explicitness, vulgarity, or religious or political views. Here are a few that might surprise you:

Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
Judy Blume’s Blubber
Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451
Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World.

There’s tons of information out there on BBW that you can check out at your leisure by simply Googling Banned Books Week or FREADOM or seeing what ALA has to say about it.

Why I am celebrating Banned Books Week?

Because I can.

I can not only because I live in a free country, but also because I have the coveted ability to read. I have the resources available to me. And I know much of the world’s population isn’t so fortunate.

So join me…  grab a banned book and let’s celebrate our FREADOM!

Personally, I’m considering picking up a copy of Carolyn Mackler’s The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things (not that I relate or anything… I’m just sure one of my friends would appreciate it…)!

Banned Books Week 2010 is September 25th – October 2nd.

– Mary Olson, Outlet Store Manager

The ALA has proclaimed September as Library Card Sign-Up Month, so if you don’t have a card this is the time to go to your local library and get one.  Better yet – grab a couple of your friends or your kids – or your nieces and nephews and head on down to the library and you can all get a card.

Wondering what the magical library card can do for you?  Check it out — You get perpetual access to books, periodicals, movies, reference materials, internet, audios, key government information, and more…. and wait for it… it’s all FREE!  In fact there are at least 52 ways you can use your library card!

For you the fabulous library services might just be fun or convenient to have – but for some they are necessities.  The library is providing internet for people with no access, homework help for kids with limited resources and vital information for everyone who needs it.

So celebrate Library Card Sign-Up Month.  Support your local library and get your card today!

Check out the ALA’s website for more info on the campaign.

Peter Carey: PARROT AND OLIVIER IN AMERICA
Emma Donoghue: ROOM
Helen Dunmore: THE BETRAYAL
Damon Galgut: IN A STRANGE ROOM
Howard Jacobson: THE FINKLER QUESTION
Andrea Levy: THE LONG SONG
Tom McCarthy: C
David Mitchell: THE THOUSAND AUTUMNS OF JACOB DE ZOET
Lisa Moore: FEBRUARY
Paul Murray: SKIPPY DIES
Rose Tremain: TRESPASS
Christos Tsiolkas: THE SLAP
Alan Warner: THE STARS IN THE BRIGHT SKY

Not all the titles listed here are available for sale in the US just yet, but most are and the rest are coming soon!

The 2010 shortlist will be announced on Tuesday September 7th and the winner of the Man Booker Prize for Fiction 2010 will be revealed on Tuesday October 12th and we’ll keep you posted!

To read more about the books and the process, check out The Man Booker Prize website.

It was so great to meet Monica and have her with us.  I hope you enjoy the chat and grab a copy of her book too!

Yesterday was filled with animated discussions about the state of the industry, where eBooks fit in and how the economy has hurt sales.  There were talks on social networking and plenty of FBing and Tweeting going on.  And then there was Barbra.

The keynote address was ticketed and the room was packed.  The publisher did the introductions and out comes Oprah’s friend Gayle King to interview Barbra.  Right behind her is the legend herself Barbra Streisand.  Of course a standing ovation ensues.  And can I just say – it was cool just be in the room with Barbra Streisand.  (I had good seats, too – which didn’t hurt!)

Alas the very private Ms. Streisand was there to talk about her new book MY PASSION FOR DESIGN which comes out this November.  The book is a look at all of the work Barbra has put into designing the multiple homes she has on her California property (and of course the beautiful results).  But the conversation was also personal.   She talked about her childhood and told some stories about her movie making and singing and admits she has some “strong” feelings about color, both positive and negative.

To put it bluntly – Barbra does not like orange, and is not to fond of yellow either (certain yellows, anyway).  Like really.  She means it.  Rumor has it that BEA had special versions of their logo made up that didn’t include the orange just for her.  No, really.

The conversation was intimate – though dare I say a teensy bit boring, and it seemed like Barbra had brought along a bunch of slides that she wanted to show that Gayle never let her get around to.  Which was too bad… that would have been fun.  Oh well, I guess I’ll just have to buy the book.

The good news, I now know what my Mom is getting this holiday season!

PS – We’ll have the book available for pre-sale shortly.  Will keep you posted!

PPS – I think I could’ve given Gayle a run for her money (as an interviewer that is!) and I want to prove it.  I’m trying to get a show all about books picked up for Oprah’s new network.  Your votes can help!  Check it out.

In today’s post, guest blogger and author Michael Bungay Stanier takes punk to the office and says it’s time to break some rules.

Malcolm McLaren, founder of The Sex Pistols, died the other day.

I never got into punk. Never quite understood the music, the vulgarity and the anger. Or maybe the fashion sense just wasn’t me – I think at the time, the apogee of style for me was a pale pink polo shirt.

But on reading McLaren’s obits, I’ve started to have a change of mind. Here’s what he says about the ethos of punk:

“I always said punk was an attitude. It was never about having a Mohican haircut or wearing a ripped T-shirt. It was all about destruction, and the creative potential within that … Turn left if you’re supposed to turn right; go through any door that you’re not supposed to enter. It’s the only way to fight your way through to any kind of authentic world in a world beset by fakery.”

Now, I’ve just read research from Right Management that says, in companies employing 50 people or more, fifty percent identify themselves as being completely unengaged in their job. Fifty percent! Perhaps some punk attitude is needed to shake things up.

At this stage I could offer you a range of tips to stop following the rules. But that would be following the “how to write a good blog post” rules.

So instead, I’m going to form a band.

The new Sex Pistols.

Punk Work.

Seth Godin‘s on leading vocals and chief song-writer. This is a man who can craft a hook, can catch our imagination. Whether it’s Purple Cow, The Dip or Linchpin, he knows how to get something stuck in your head. And he’s even got the haircut for it.

Jason Fried is on lead guitar. He’s just put out ReWork, full of short solos on what it takes to stop business as usual and try something else.

New kid Scott Belsky is on bass. Making Ideas Happen is rooted in creativity, but it’s about making stuff real. That’s an urgent rhythm that fits right behind Fried’s lead.

And finally, I’ve got Dan Pink on drums. Drive is all about Motivation 3.0, a plea to manage in a way that gives people Purpose, Autonomy and Mastery. It’s the tireless beat that gives all of this a foundation that works.

Me? I was toying with the Do More Great Work tambourine. But maybe I’ll follow McLaren’s lead and play the managerial role, pulling the talent together and helping it have an impact.

How about you? Who’d be in your band? What inspires you to turn left if you’re supposed to turn right?

–Michael Bungay Stanier is the Senior Partner of Box of Crayons (www.BoxOfCrayons.biz). His new book Do More Great Work: Stop the busywork and start the work that matters is a practical guide to finding, starting and sustaining your own Great Work. Watch a short movie www.GreatWorkAlchemy.com.

I have always thought that books, reading, and libraries connect us in a “pay it forward” kind of way.  When you think about it, a good book isn’t half as good if you can’t share it with someone.  There is a primal need, in fact, of wanting to challenge and excite someone else with the discovery of a great author or book.  That is why, I believe, the whole One Book, One Community idea has taken off across the country.  It is an exciting event in which all residents are encouraged to read the same book at the same time and discuss it with friends and family, with a book club or at a program.

For our first title, we have selected To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee.  Set in the South during the Great Depression, this coming-of-age novel is probably the most widely read book dealing with race in America.  We chose it because it is filled with tenderness, humor, and heart wrenching moments that are thought provoking and discussable.  It is also perfectly fitting that this year is the 50th anniversary of this all American classic and Pulitzer prize winning book.

As we planned this event it was amazing how this book created enthusiasm and started to pull people together as ideas evolved and excitement grew surrounding the book.  Everyone we talked to had a unique way in which they wanted to participate and celebrate To Kill a Mockingbird.

Thank you to Better World Books for partnering with us and for donating 100 copies of To Kill a Mockingbird that are being read around the community at such places as the Center for the Homeless, The Robinson Center, and St. Margaret’s House.  I personally dropped off many of these books and I can’t tell you the smiles, joy, and gratitude I received for sharing this generous donation.

We also want to thank many of our other partners including Friends of the St. Joseph County Public Library, Center for History, Hammes Notre Dame Bookstore, Indiana University South Bend, St. Joseph County Bar Association, South Bend Area Genealogical Society, Thyme of Grace, and WNIT Public Television.

One Book, One Michiana will take place from April 11 to May 9, 2010.  If you’re in the area, we invite you to read this story with us and find an interesting program to attend, so you can join in the synergy as we discuss what we love about this book.

One Book, One Michiana.  Read the book and “pay it forward.”

– Dawn Matthews, St. Joseph County Public Library

I heard a story today about a wealthy man who gave $50,000 and a house to a penniless man who’d had a stroke and nowhere to live. Stories of philanthropic largess like this one are abundant; in fact, big donations, particularly those made by celebrities, get nearly all the press.  There is a myth in the U.S. that the majority of charitable giving comes from foundations, corporations, and wealthy celebs.  The truth is that 75% of all donations made to nonprofits every year come from individuals, most of them living in households with less than $200,000 in annual income.

My book, Give a Little: How Your Small Donations Can Transform Our World, describes the cumulative magnitude and power of the affordable donations made by everyday citizens. In 2008, their giving amounted to $228 BILLION.  That is more than the gross national incomes of 75% of the world’s nations!  The book shows the rippling effects of every affordable donation as it changes the life of an individual child, strengthens a family, shores up a community and reinforces peace within an entire nation.

My experience working in the nonprofit sector for 20+ years combined with my research while writing Give a Little proves that the citizen philanthropist is a crucial and undervalued part of the solution to the inhumanity of extreme poverty. Better World Books is an outstanding example of the cumulative power of individuals contributing to a valuable cause.  $7.7 MILLION dollars raised to improve literacy around the world – one person, one book, one purchase, one donation at a time.  It works.

This is a unique moment in philanthropic history as a confluence of the internet, social entrepreneurs like those at Better World Books, and a mass of highly motivated and empowered citizens have combined resources to create multitudes of effective nonprofits that are helping the most vulnerable among us acquire the tools necessary to lift themselves permanently out of extreme poverty. Give a Little describes dozens of these organizations that use affordable donations from everyday donors to transform lives. Their potential is limited only by the strength of our belief in the possibility of a more peaceful and prosperous world.

Most of us are not destined to go into the most remote areas around the world and build schools, provide livestock, distribute birthing kits, or construct bridges. But we can support those whose mission it is with our donations. In fact, there is no mission without your gifts.  Even long established nonprofits with worldwide networks of programming say that donations from everyday citizens make up the bread and butter of their funding.

Give a Little is both a book and a movement that inform everyday donors of the power of their contributions, which create ripples of positive change exponentially larger than the size of their checks. The book was released in November and has 5,600 fans on its facebook page. Many fans have shared stories of how they are starting ripples all around the world. Better World Books has more than 30,000 fans!  We are a movement. We do believe we are powerful. We will change the world.

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever does.” Margaret Mead, anthropologist, 1901-1978

– Wendy Smith, Author

Yup.  No kidding.  Stephenie Meyer announced today that she will have a new novella out this June!  And yes, it is part of the Twilight series.

The book is called The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner and is the story of one of the “newborn” vampires that are introduced in Eclipse.  It will be out officially Saturday June 5th at 12:01 AM, so start planning your Bree Tanner parties now.

On her website, Stephenie says this book was written “before Twilight was even released.”  She continues; “Back then I was just editing Eclipse, and in the thick of my vampire world. I was thinking a lot about the newborns, imagining their side of the story, and one thing led to another. I started writing from Bree’s perspective about those final days, and what it was like to be a newborn.”

And check this out…Stephenie (and her peeps) have decided that one dollar of each book purchased in the US from the first printing will be donated to the American Red Cross for their relief efforts in Haiti and Chile and other parts of the world where people are in great need.

So – if you pre-order here at BetterWorldBooks.com, you’ll be helping and helping again with the Red Cross donation AND the funding for literacy that comes from every purchase on our site!

Get the book as soon as it’s released! Pre-Order Now!

Salinger was best known for THE CATCHER IN THE RYE which sold over 60 million copies since it was published in 1951.  His other books include FRANNY AND ZOOEY and NINE STORIES.

Read the complete story on the New York Times blog.

Updike was best known for his Rabbit novels – two of which won the Pulitzer Prize;  Rabbit is Rich in 1982 and Rabbit at Rest in 1991.  His latest novel Terrorist was released in 2006.

Born in 1932, Updike released more than 50 books in his career, many of which were bestsellers.  He was known for his literary style and in addition to the two Pulitzers, he was also the recipient of two National Book Awards and many other literary prizes.

His voice will be sorely missed.

As the article points out:

Just two weeks before announcing staff cuts and a substantial corporate restructuring in December, the publishing giant Macmillan gathered its sales and marketing staff at the historic Hotel del Coronado in San Diego —where Billy Wilder filmed Tony Curtis wooing , HarMarilyn Monroe in “Some Like It Hot” — to talk about titles on the spring lists. Between marathon meetings to discuss plans for new books, the sales reps were invited to take part in wine tastings and spa treatments.This year the meetings will be held via Webcam. In a memo to staff members announcing the layoffs on Dec. 15, John Sargent, chief executive of Macmillan, said the company would hold only one of its three annual sales conferences in person, and the other two would be conducted on the Web and by telephone.

It goes on:

Venerable houses including HarperCollins, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Penguin Group, Random House and Simon & Schuster have all announced salary freezes or layoffs, or both.

Nielsen has identified a 7 percent drop in sales compared with the same period the previous year, and signs that it’s only going to get worse.  But for all of the major or subtle changes in the industry, it appears some things will never change, such as the arrogance of agents: ”It’s not like you have books that can be Manolo Blahniks and books that can be Cole Haan. Books are books. A book by James Patterson costs the same as a book by some poet.”

Ah, to own the wonderful works of “some poet.”  Isn’t it delightful that the same personalities who once were some of the strongest personalities and names in the industry are now, en masse, clumped together with a mass-market paperback sales maven?  But hey, sales dictate attitudes, so put down that company card, crack open that secondhand newspaper and read on to see what changes come next.  My guess is that curtailing cash advances for Mr. Patterson will do more to cut costs than cognizance of the effect of supply and demand on a now identified product niche market, but I’m not the one getting paid to lounge at a resort and talk shop.

The long awaited settlement for the Author’s Guild, AAP and Google is official.  Under the settlement, “Google will have the right to make browsable copies of the books it has scanned through its Library Project as well as books scanned in through its regular Book Search program.”

From Publisher’s Weekly:

As part of the $125 million settlement, Google will pay $45 million to settle the class action lawsuit brought by the Authors Guild. Authors whose books have already been scanned will receive at least $60 per work. Another $34.5 million will go toward the creation of a Book Rights Registry that will be responsible for building a database of rightsholders information and for disbursing all money generated through the use of books in Google Products and Services. (The remaining $45.5 million will go to legal and attorney fees). Under the deal, Google will receive 37% of revenue and rightsholders 63%. Publishers and authors will have 120 days to opt out of the settlement once the agreement receives approval from the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, something that is expected to take several months.

How does this affect us? Well, up to this point Google maintains that they will not be getting involved in the physical book business. They want to index all the out of print books as well as any books they can get their (rather large) paws on. In regards to this, it would be silly to suggest that we are anything but excited about the prospect of the mass availability of books. If we were worried about access to books as a potential negative for our business, chances are we (1) would not working extensively with 1000+ libraries in North America and (2) would be stocking up on eBooks.

Besides, fundamentally we’re lovers of books. I’m just as excited as anyone that if I want to be a little pretentious in a letter and quote from Madame Bovary (in French, natch) that Google Books allows me the opportunity to do so without having to purchase the book or find it at a local library. (Besides, my book backlog right now is hovering at 8 or so books).

It would be brash to say that there’s not murmurs of worry in the industry though. Considering Google just paid their legal team on this case more than we make in revenue in a given year, it wouldn’t take much effort for them to come in and be a major player in the book selling market. With Google.org and their relative propensity towards making socially responsible decisions, I don’t doubt that Google will find a way to make their revenue into a positive influence, but short of changing into a triple bottom line company, I tend to trust the guarantee that we offer significantly more than just a predilection towards giving.

But let’s cross that bridge when we come to it.

In the meantime:
“la parole humaine est comme un chaudron fêlé où nous battons des mélodies à faire danser les ours, quand on voudrait attendrir les étoiles.” ["...human speech is a cracked cauldron on which we bang out beats that make bears dance, when we want to move the stars to pity"]

Thanks, Google!

“The City Council of New York officially declares the week of November 17, 2008 ‘National Book Awards Week in the City of New York’”

If you happen to be in the city that never sleeps this week, you can catch some incredible events, including a dinner with the various winners from the National Book Foundation (the rest of us can see updates as they happen at the website linked above).  The crown jewel of prizes, the National Book Award, will be announced on Wednesday, and tomorrow there is a (sold out, sorry) reading by the finalists.  They are as follows:

Fiction:

Aleksandar Hemon, The Lazarus Project
Rachel Kushner, Telex from Cuba
Peter Matthiessen, Shadow Country
Marilynne Robinson, Home
Salvatore Scibona, The End

Non-fiction:

Drew Gilpin Faust, This Republic of Suffering: Death and the American Civil War
Annette Gordon-Reed, The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family (check out our recent podcast with her!)
Jane Mayer, The Dark Side: The Inside Story of How the War on Terror Turned into a War on American Ideals
Jim Sheeler, Final Salute: A Story of Unfinished Lives
Joan Wickersham, The Suicide Index: Putting My Father’s Death in Order

Poetry:

Frank Bidart, Watching the Spring Festival
Mark Doty, Fire to Fire: New and Collected Poems
Reginald Gibbons, Creatures of a Day
Richard Howard, Without Saying
Patricia Smith, Blood Dazzler

Young People’s Lit (kind of a silly name, no?):

Laurie Halse Anderson, Chains
Kathi Appelt, The Underneath
Judy Blundell, What I Saw and How I Lied
E. Lockhart, The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks
Tim Tharp, The Spectacular Now

Crichton’s works focused primarily on technology, medicine and the potential for dystopian futures resulting from these fields.  His focus sprouted naturally from Crichton’s past as he graudated Summa Cum Laude from Harvard University, tutored in anthropology at Cambridge University in England, and eventually received his M.D. from Harvard Medical School while writing award winning novels under two different pen names (John Lange and Jeffrey Hudson).

Crichton’s fingerprints can be found in more than just the huge literary success he achieved, having sold over 150 million books, as he delved deep into the world of moving pictures as well.  Jurassic Park was groundbreaking in its effects, and 1973′s Westworld and 1976′s Futureworld were the first two movies to use 2D and 3D Computer Generated Images (CGI), respectively.

Additionally, Crichton wrote “Twister” and was the original writer and producer of the fabulously successful TV hospital drama “ER.”

As a result of his myriad projects, in December of 1994 Crichton achieved a never before seen feat, holding the prize for #1 Movie (Jurassic Park), #1 TV Show (ER) and #1 Book (Disclosure) simultaneously.

He was 66.

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Crichton)
(http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/article5092860.ece)

The White Tiger, written by Aravind Adiga won the Man Booker Prize.  From the website: “The Man Booker Prize promotes the finest in fiction by rewarding the very best book of the year.  Adiga is the fourth debut novelist to win the prize.

Also from the site:

When I wrote “The Grapes of Wrath,” I was filled, naturally, with certain angers—certain angers at people who were doing injustices to other people, or so I thought. I realize now that everyone was caught in the same trap. If you remember, we had a depression at that time. The Depression

caught us without the ability to take care of it. It took a long time for us to develop the agencies to take care of such economic difficulties. When the dust came up, people were starving; they had no place to go. Naturally, they went in a direction where they would not suffer from cold: they went toward California. They came in the thousands to California.

And what did they meet—they met people who were terrified, number one, of the Depression, and were horrified at the idea that great numbers of indigent people were being poured on them to be taken care of. They could only be taken care of by taxation. Taxes were already high, and there wasn’t much money about. They reacted perfectly normally—they became angry. And when you become angry, you fight what you’re angry at. They were angry at these newcomers.

Gradually, through government agency, through the work of private citizens, agencies were set up to take care of these situations, and only then did the anger begin to decrease. And when anger decreased, these two sides, these two groups, were able to get to know each other, and they found they didn’t dislike each other at all.

Surprise is not a prerequisite for sadness.

David Foster Wallace, wordsmith notable for having written numerous great essays and the wonderful–if complex–Infinite Jest, was found dead yesterday.  Wallace’s wife found him after he had passed by hanging himself.

Few who were familiar with Wallace and his work will be totally shocked; suicide and depression were oft mentioned material for the author.  But the mere proliferation doesn’t ease the pain of losing this kind of talent.

His own prescience about knowing oneself (to use the cliche but correct Polonius phrase) and ability to take perspective, most notable (at least in the free-use realm) in his Commencement at Kenyon was one of his finest gifts.  At the same time this deftness with converting experience into words was one of his most difficult challenges to transcend.  As Wordsworth said of himself, “The world is too much with us; late and soon,” and one gets the feeling the world, and its dusty corners that Wallace shed light on, were indeed “too much with [him]“.  Thus, it is with the same sense which we took on the suicide of Elliott Smith, David Foster Wallace will be missed not with shock, but with a kind of resigned tragedy.  It’s like the rain on a parade after a dour forecast; you packed your umbrella, but hope still that the storm will pass.  He was 46 years old.

Check out his excellent fansite for more information and resources about his writing.

Robert Giroux, who passed away on Friday at age 94 was the editor for the first list and the publisher for the second.  The man had a freakish connectedness in the literary world, having done everything from publishing Orwell’s 1984 to having the following conversation with T.S. Eliot (which I liberally steal from the NYT):

“His ambition to write might have prompted an exchange with Eliot, then in his late 50s, on the day they met in 1946, when Mr. Giroux, “just past 30,” as he recalled the moment in “The Oxford Book of Literary Anecdotes,” was an editor at Harcourt, Brace. “His most memorable remark of the day,” Mr. Giroux said, “occurred when I asked him if he agreed with the definition that most editors are failed writers, and he replied, ‘Perhaps, but so are most writers.’ ””

Giroux was a man who went from high-school drop out to publishing house luminary and did so with considerable skill and success.  Anyone who loves great literature should take a moment and think about an extraordinary man whose talent and risk-taking produced some of the finest works ever published (and even wrote a book himself).

Personally I don’t care much for her writing but I do love those type of books (I can’t imagine how many times I’ve read Lord of the Rings and I read literally just about every piece of literature related to Star Wars in my youth).  It’s just her unimaginative prose that leaves me cold.  Her deft story crafting is undeniable and I won’t say I haven’t seen the movies (and read the first two books when I was baby-sitting) but I can’t embrace the books (don’t throw anything at me, please, Harry Potter lovers).

In any event, in the face of her success, she was invited to give this address and managed to be fairly average for the most part but at least saw through through the (literal) pomp and circumstance to what was important:

The first thing I would like to say is ‘thank you.’ Not only has Harvard given me an extraordinary honour, but the weeks of fear and nausea I’ve experienced at the thought of giving this commencement address have made me lose weight. A win-win situation! Now all I have to do is take deep breaths, squint at the red banners and fool myself into believing I am at the world’s best-educated Harry Potter convention.

Delivering a commencement address is a great responsibility; or so I thought until I cast my mind back to my own graduation. The commencement speaker that day was the distinguished British philosopher Baroness Mary Warnock. Reflecting on her speech has helped me enormously in writing this one, because it turns out that I can’t remember a single word she said. This liberating discovery enables me to proceed without any fear that I might inadvertently influence you to abandon promising careers in business, law or politics for the giddy delights of becoming a gay wizard.

You see? If all you remember in years to come is the ‘gay wizard’ joke, I’ve still come out ahead of Baroness Mary Warnock. Achievable goals: the first step towards personal improvement.

The rest of it dodders along through thoughts on “failure” and “success” and is interesting to read, check out the full text here.  I recall Bob Wright, CEO of NBC and a Holy Cross grad, talking at my graduation and honestly I can’t remember a single word he said (no offense Bob, I just wasn’t there for you) but Rowling’s effort isn’t too bad… maybe I would’ve listened harder in light of mere bemusement about the true nature of “success” that she was the speaker at Harvard’s graduation.

In the same way that the Russian composer group: “The Mighty Handful” of Mussorgsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, Balakriev and Borodin defined what it meant to be a Russian in music, Solzhenitsyn takes his place among brilliant minds and realist Russian philosopher/writers such as Tolstoy and Doestoevsky.

Having brought the world around to see the terrors of the Gulag, the prison system in Russia, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in literature in 1970.  Like Dostoevsky, Solzhenitsyn was increasing critical of the cultural systems of the west (particularly lashing out against rock music when he was exiled to the US) but fixed on a goal of ameliorating a situation many had given up hope on in his home country, then the USSR.

The amazing part about him though, is the time and tenor under which he wrote his works.  Today, if someone as prolific as Solzhenitsyn were to go to a publisher he would be awarded a lucrative book deal and a massive marketing campaign, but because his work was deemed “subversive to the Russian state” he stated this in his Nobel Prize acceptance speech: “…during all the years until 1961, not only was I convinced I should never see a single line of mine in print in my lifetime, but, also, I scarcely dared allow any of my close acquaintances to read anything I had written because I feared this would become known…”  But luckily for us, his works would see the light of day and cause a huge uproar in the USSR and USA alike when the three volume Gulag Archipelago came out and rocked the public in a fashion similar to if a prisoner were to release a tell-all about Guantanamo (and there were even less info about it currently).

Hitchens writes that “Solzhenitsyn lived as if there were a thing as human dignity” and one is tempted to believe him.
_______________________

Find his works here.  My suggestion would be not to start with Gulag, but rather with A Day in the Life… or if you love Dante’s Inferno try on The First Circle which is about the first circle of hell where the writers and intellectuals are cursed to stay for eternity.  His writing The Cancer Ward is also unique as he spent time in a ward while cancer almost took his life in 1954.

Randy Pausch, notable computer science teacher at Carnegie Mellon died today, finally succumbing to the pancreatic cancer that he knew would take his life eventually.  Pausch, perhaps more known for his inspirational Last Lecture, given on September 18th 2007 (and subsequently published), was 47 years old.

From the AP –

The talk was videotaped and subsequently criss-crossed the world via the Internet. More than 3.2 million people had viewed the “Last Lecture” on YouTube alone as of Friday, and according to Carnegie Mellon, tens of millions have watched Pausch’s inspirational talk.

“If I don’t seem as depressed or morose as I should be, sorry to disappoint you,” said Pausch, the married father of three young children, at the start of the lecture.

He focused in his talk not on his illness but on “my childhood dreams; how I believe I have been able to enable the dreams of others; and, to some degree, lessons learned… how you can use the stuff you hear today to pursue your dreams or enable the dreams of others.”

Pausch outlined his own childhood dreams, which included writing a World Book Encyclopedia entry, experiencing zero gravity and creating Disney attractions — all dreams that were fulfilled…

“If you lead your life the right way, the karma will take care of itself,” Pausch said. “The dreams will come to you.”

The talk spawned a book, called “The Last Lecture,” which was translated into 30 languages and topped best-seller lists around the world.

The book was an attempt by Pausch “to put myself in a bottle that will one day wash up on the beach for my children,” he was quoted as saying by Carnegie Mellon.

Here we have the hardcover (and large print) + audio CD.

They could be scared of a plummeting book sales, but my bet is that they and many others are scared of a world where kids aren’t well educated enough to read and savor Roald Dahl. Seriously, childhood without Charlie and the Chocolate Factory or The Witches can barely be called childhood.

And before anyone even suggests it, the movies do the books no justice. Grab a cup of cocoa, snuggle up with your favorite Dahl book, and relive your childhood this weekend. I know how to recognize a witch, do you??

Original article

(looking for some Dahl for Christmas?)

We’ve all got them, you know – the list you have with all the things you want to do in your life. For example:

1. Swim with sharks
2. Write a book
3. Learn to break dance

This month we’ve recruited some help for you and your list. Our friends at National Novel Writing Month (NaNo WriMo) have created a grass roots event with over 100,000 people getting together to write novels.

No Plot? No Problem! NaNoWriMo will keep in touch with you throughout November to give the emotional support and coaching to write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days. A novel concept indeed. Next month we’ll work on number 3 on life’s to-do list – all $100 dollar orders will get a cardboard head spin mat FREE with purchase.