2010 Bibliophilic Book Challenge

I've been enjoying my first day of Christmas vacation. So far, I've managed to catch up on neglected projects and emails. This afternoon, I even had some extra time to check up on blogs I follow, and I'm certainly glad I did because I came a across a post that excited and inspired me to join the 2010 Bibliophilic Books Challenge!

What in the world is that, you ask? Well, it's this awesome challenge that's actually quite perfect for those interested in learning more about literacy. This challenge asks that you read books about reading. There are a number of books sitting on my not-yet-read shelf that are about reading. Really, I've read a number of books in the past year about this very subject. Lucky for me, there are so many more! I'll post reviews of the books I read for the Bibliophilic Challenge on this blog. To join in the fun, just visit this site and follow along or link your blog to the main site.

According to the site, these are the levels you can reach in the contest:

Bookworm: Read three books

Litlover: Read six books

Bibliomaniac: Read twelve books

Sounds like good, clean fun! Get a badge for your blog or wiki here.

NaNoWriMo is Here!

NaNoWriMo is the abbreviation for the National Novel Writing Month. This is designed to get those of us who've always wanted to write a novel to actually do so. In a month!

If you sign up with NaNoWriMo on their page, you can add-in your words to your novel every day in November. If you get over 50,000, you'll receive a "winner" badge. A surprising number of these books have actually been published, too, so you may also have a shot!

For my students, the important idea here is that November is an awesome time of the year to be writing. I hope to urge them to join this challenge, but even if they are unable to meet the 50,000 words, I know that seeing thousands of people around the globe engaged in writing will be a huge inspiration for them. I know that some of my students do not feel connected to the world at large, and this is one simple way for me to get them to think globally.