Twice a year we e-mail out an informative newsletter about teaching with audiobooks
- there is no obligation to buy anything to receive this up-to-date and friendly
communication.
However, when you
subscribe, you will be eligible to receive a 15%
discount on your next order of any Audio Bookshelf productions
featured on our website. Whether you call, fax, mail or e-mail your order, just
tell us you are an online subscriber taking advantage of your 15% discount.
Here
is our current newsletter:
Dear
Educators!
Welcome to our sixth newsletter to help you teach the love
of reading and listening! Print it out and read it when you get a quiet
moment...
One of the best birthdays my husband ever had was the wintery January day in the
early 80's that we woke up to a blizzard and I spent much of the day reading The
Secret Garden to him. It was the least expensive gift I've ever
given him and the most remembered. Blackstone's The Secret Garden
recording read by award-winning narrator Wanda McCaddon is a treasure and one
of my personal favorites. It's available also through Audio Bookshelf.
There's a fifth sequel to Hatchet due any minute called
Brian's Hunt and available in unabridged audio in December. It will
be in our new catalog. Other new titles that will be featured in our 2004 catalog
distribution insert and never before available in audio: The Little House
in the Big Woods series - we'll have the first three books available.
One CD we're particularly excited to be featuring is The African-American
Audio Experience highlighting Langston Hughes, Nikki Giovanni, Loraine
Hansberry, Richard Wright, ZN Hurston and Gwendolyn Brooks. Important listening
for high schoolers and adults.
A terrific idea to get kids reading was covered in VOYA in
the October 2002 (yes 2002!) issue - an ALL YOU CAN READ BUFFET!! The idea was
conceived of and put together to great success by Kara Falck of the Shaler North
Hills Library in Glenshaw, PA. In a six hour reading marathon, the person who
could read the longest would win a $50. gift certificate to a local mall and there
were second and third place cash winners as well. Everybody got a small prize,
pizza and ice-cream sundaes. The reading marathon was a hit with 59 kids and ran
from 11:30 to 7:30. Kara says it was the most rewarding and inspirational program
she has ever coordinated - the kids said that next time they hope it will run
LONGER. Check it out with either Kara or read about it in the 10/02 VOYA.
In
USA TODAY - 12% of our 15 yr. old readers are "poor readers", making US students,
as a whole, just average in reading skills compared with other developed countries.
Another 6% are even worse than "poor". No news to our newsletter subscribers.
Some teachers tell us that up to 50% of their kids are struggling with text. Audiobooks
are a real bridge to text for most of these kids. According to the article, family
income plays a bigger role in the literacy rate in the US than elsewhere. There
is definitely funding available for family literacy programs (see funding sources
below) - and you can use these funds to buy audiobooks for your school or public
library to help families read more together. Most 15yr. olds around the world
say they don't read for enjoyment... hmmm, I believe allowing them to take out
audiobooks could change that attitude somewhat!
I get calls from
time to time asking about making copies of my productions for school use. It is
illegal to do so, no matter what the reason. All authors' materials are protected
by copyright and all recordings of those materials are protected in the same way.
I own those recordings. As well, you cannot make recordings of picture books,
even if no commercial recording is available, without written permission from
the publisher or other rights holder.
It's said that giving "rewards" for reading devalues the activity, "giving
the impression that reading cannot stand on its own as an enjoyable pursuit"
(SLJ, Betty Carter 10/96). This includes points in reading programs. What
is your experience/response as an educator?
In a recent Reader's Digest: "While teaching Shakespeare's As You
Like It to my freshman English class at the University of Kansas, I was reminded
of how much of our common language is shaped by our best writers.'I can't see
why everyone thinks Shakespeare is such a great writer,' commented one student.
' His plays are full of cliches.'"
Right now, we're reading out loud Bill Bryson's Made in America - An Informal
History of the English Language in the United States at our house. A
highly entertaining read about the source of today's American English! And
yes, Shakespeare had a huge influence on the phrases we use today...
In the
VOYA October 2003 issue just rec'd there's an uplifting article about the success
of using Paul Fleischman's Seedfolks and Bull Run
for student theatre. As well, there are terrific ideas for using Seedfolks
to generate some exciting classroom projects. Our Curriculum Connections
for both titles on our website at audiobookshelf.com will give you even more classroom
projects. Teachers tell me the audios for both of these titles really raise
the interest level of students because they HEAR the different accents and ages
of the characters Fleischman so ably writes about. Seedfolks is the perfect
vehicle for motivating your students to understand each other's differences and
find common ground.
In
SLJ's new Curriculum Connections (Oct.03) there is an entire article about state
and federal grants for books and classroom materials. Much of this money
would be available for audiobooks if the right approach is used - disabled children
(visually impaired), family literacy (probably the biggest catchword and the easiest
way to build your audiobook collection), ESL, gender-equity programs and underserved
student populations. Check out The Foundation Center at fdncenter.org to
keep up-to-date. From Starbucks to the US Government, the money is there
waiting for you to ask for it. Get ahold of a copy of this new Curriculum
Connections 10/03 issue and put it to work!
SNEAK
PREVIEW:
I'm excited to give you a sneak preview to our
five new releases due in January 2004: As a newsletter subscriber I'm
giving you a gift of 15% off any and all of the following - please let us know
when you call
or note it on your PO - thanks!
- BLACK LIKE ME
Author - John Howard Griffin
Reader - Ray
Childs
Publisher - Audio Bookshelf
Unabridged
Length: 7 hours
ISBN - 0-9741711-0-7 - Cass Price: $39.95
ISBN
- 0-9741711-1-5 - CD Price: $49.95
Release Date - January, 2004
Subject - Autobiography/Race Issues (Adult)
- THE FIFTH OF MARCH
Author - Ann Rinaldi
Reader -
Melissa Hughes
Publisher - Audio Bookshelf
Unabridged
Length: 8 hours
ISBN - 1-883332-97-4 - Cass Price: $39.95
ISBN
- 1-883332-98-2 - CD Price: $49.95
Release Date - January, 2004
Subject - Historical Fiction/Juvenile Ages 12
and up.
- THE THREE DOCUMENTS THAT MADE AMERICA
The Declaration of Independence, The Constitution of the USA and The Bill of Rights
Introduced by Sam Fink
Reader - Terry Bregy
Publisher - Audio Bookshelf
Unabridged
Length: 90 minutes
ISBN - 0-9741711-2-3 - CD only Price:
$21.95
Release Date - January, 2004
Subject - American History.
- ASHLEY BRYAN'S BEAUTIFUL BLACKBIRD and Other Folktales
Author/Performer: Ashley Bryan
Publisher - Audio Bookshelf
Unabridged
Length: 80 minutes
ISBN - 1-883332-99-0 - CD only Price:
$21.95
Release Date - January, 2004
Subject - Folktales/Juvenile
- PADDLE-TO-THE-SEA
Author - Holling Clancy Holling
Reader - Terry Bregy
Publisher - Audio Bookshelf
Unabridged
Length:
60 minutes
ISBN - 0-9741711-3-1 - Cass Price:
$14.95
ISBN - 0-9741711-4-X - CD Price:
$16.95
Release Date - January, 2004
Subject - Fiction/Geography/Juvenile.
That's all the news that's fit to print - I hope you have enjoyed
and benefited from this newsletter!
Keep listening!
DAVE DITTMANN
AUDIO BOOKSHELF
1-800-234-1713
401-842-0440
(FAX)
info@audiobookshelf.com
Audio Bookshelf
44 Ocean View Drive
Middletown, Rhode Island 02842
Awarding-winning unabridged audiobooks for listeners of all ages...!
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