Posted by Jack Hanlon, CBO & Evangelist

Slate Magazine ran an article the other day in their "Hot Document" series that's sure to leave you shaking your head over what leaves high-schoolers scratching theirs.  

...the new education-advocacy group Common Core posed these and 30 similar questions about history and literature to 1,200 17-year-old high-school students (below on the following four pages), it discovered that American teenagers are "stunningly ignorant."

Common Core puts some of the blame on six years of George W. Bush's "No Child Left Behind" law, which forced schools to concentrate lessons on standardized-test measures for math and reading at the expense of education in the humanities. The organization debuted on Feb. 26 with a press conference that unveiled the findings in a glossy pamphlet titled Still at Risk, an allusion to the landmark 1983 education survey, A Nation At Risk. That earlier survey famously stated, "If an unfriendly foreign power had attempted to impose on America the mediocre educational performance that exists today, we might well have viewed it as an act of war." Apparently, we lost.

The test posed a series of questions whose answers even the slowest-witted high-schoolers might reasonably be expected to know. But only one question (Who gave the "I Have A Dream" speech in 1963?, Page 3), yielded the correct response on a near-unanimous basis (97 percent). Only 61 percent knew what the Renaissance was (Page 2), and only half knew why the Federalist papers were written (Page 3). Fewer than half knew when the Civil War was fought (see below). And this test was multiple-choice!

(Full story and full test over here)

Posted by Kim Emery, Administrative Support Specialist

Every once in a while, you read a book that crosses the line of entertainment  and into the realm of life changing. I am no longer the same since reading SOLD by Patricia McCormick. An easy read, this cleverly written tale follows thirteen year old Lakshimi's life in Nepal, and the devastation that led to her sale into child prostitution. The realities of the torment that follow, literally had me covering my mouth, in an attempt to stifle the moans of anguish I felt for her. As I read of Lakishimi's struggles to survive in this world so new and so devastatingly cruel, I found myself, hand over my heart, thinking of ways to rescue her. But in the end, I found myself sighing with relief and celebrating her victory. READ THIS BOOK! It will give you a perspective on life that is sure to change you forever...hopefully.

Posted by Jack Hanlon, CBO & Evangelist

Check out this month's edition of our recurring feature, Worldfund's Student of the Month.  Worldfund is our Latin American non-profit literacy partner and we look to support them in any way we can as they support youths such as:



Bruno!

Seventeen-year-old Bruno was born and raised in Salvador, Bahia, where he lives with his mother, a domestic worker, and his two younger sisters.

Bruno has always liked electronics and is working towards becoming an engineer. When he was 14, he was accepted into the Steve Biko Institute’s three-year, intensive after-school Oguntec Program, which prepares disadvantaged Afro-Brazilian students for the vestibular (university entrance exam). Last year, at age 16, Bruno took his first exam for admission to the Federal University of Bahia (UFBA) and passed the first phase for Electrical Engineering. Bruno graduated from high school in December 2007 and hopes to begin his university studies in 2008.

Bruno believes that his participation in the Oguntec Program was the best thing that ever happened to him. It was as a student in this program that he learned that the word “quit” is not part of his vocabulary. He also learned that for a young man from a poor neighborhood, completing high school is not enough. He needs to dream of attending university. Bruno’s goals include attending university, establishing a career, and changing the economic situation of his family.

As Bruno states, “Attending university will make me the first, the first child, the first grandson, the first nephew in one generation to believe in the DREAM. Afterwards, I would like to return the Steve Biko Institute and become a professor in the Oguntec Program which I believe should always continue. It was at the Institute that I learned to have a social commitment.”

Posted by Abby Rae LaCombe, Rocky Mountain Regional Director



Niko and I are in San Antonio, TX attending a variety of educational sessions at CAMEX 2008 and celebrating warm weather (come check us out at booth 1145, next to Publisher's Row!  Massive floorplan here).  I was in a session discussing textbook rental programs and a question arose regarding what to do with the books when they are no longer applicable to the class.  What was the resounding answer (I promise I didn’t say it first!)?  “Better World Books!”  All I could do was sit back and glow with pride (and scheme how to get in to the totally sweet Jansport party this year...)

Posted by Jack Hanlon, CBO & Evangelist

Check it out, Wake Up and Smell the Planet is exactly what it says: "The Non-pompous, Non-Preachy Grist Guide to Greening Your Day.  Like most things Grist the book values the balance of utility and humor making it less an on the soapbox indictment and more an on the bedstand read.  Great reviews from anyone who has read it and add one more from me.  Check it out at www.betterworld.com by clicking the cover.

Posted by Erin Gerber, Account Representative

I’ve been in love with reading most of my life.  My affection for the written word eventually translated into both a love of and career in libraries for most of my adult life.

Like most people who work in libraries, I love getting books into the hands  of those who enjoy reading as much as I do.  Better World Books allows me to do this on a much larger scale than ever before—not only are we helping to get books into the hands of those in search of a good read around the world, we’re helping our Literacy Partners generate funds to create a new wave of avid readers.

I feel especially lucky to be a part of this unique company because I’m well aware of the challenge libraries face when it comes to their discards and donations.  By offering libraries a socially and environmentally responsible outlet for their books that’s not only easy, effective, and free, I know we’re offering them a solution they can use! 

Posted by Jack Hanlon, CBO & Evangelist

I reported earlier about the Great American Word Challenge, a nationwide online contest that pit cities against one another to measure their greatness, not by the height of their skyscrapers, but by the depth of their vocabularies. Fresno received the highest cumulative average score and took the title and the prize: a Ubisoft donation of My Word Coach video games and Nintendo DS™ systems to a local family literacy center selected by the National Center for Family Literacy (NCFL). The beneficiary organization is the Fresno County Library Literacy Services Center, which provides free reading, writing, spelling, and math tutoring to Fresno County adults that cannot read or write English.

“The city of Fresno is always proud to support family literacy,” said Deputy Mayor Jeff Eben. “We are excited to have won the 'Great American Word Challenge' and thank all Fresno's residents who participated so successfully in this fun and creative Challenge.”

With thousands of contestants putting their vocabulary skills to the test since November 1, 2007, the “Great American Word Challenge” proved which American cities could walk the walk AND talk the talk:

-- In addition to Fresno, the following cities rounded out the top four positions:

-- Salisbury, Maryland (2nd place)

-- Mankato, Minnesota (3rd place)

-- Albuquerque, New Mexico (4th place)

-- Oakland, California (5th place)

-- Overall, the U.S. received a B- average grade on their vocabulary with a national average score of 167 out of 205 (81%)

-- And here's how long-time city rivals stacked up:

-- Oakland is the smartest Bay Area city, beating out San Francisco, Berkeley, and San Jose!

-- Despite preliminary results showing Brooklyn in the lead, at final count Manhattan is the highest-scoring New York City borough. The Bronx is the lowest-scoring borough. Here's how the boroughs stacked up against each other:

1. Manhattan

2. Queens

3. Brooklyn

4. Staten Island

5. The Bronx

-- Twin Cities? Not exactly. Minneapolis established itself as the more literate of the two, scoring 168 compared to St. Paul's 140.

-- Good (and smart) things come in small packages: Pasadena might be just an eighth the size of its sprawling neighbor, Los Angeles, but it's 16% smarter! Pasadena scored 178 compared to Los Angeles, which scored a mere 154. Article from Business Wire

Posted by Jack Hanlon, CBO & Evangelist

The Telegraph, a newspaper from our friends in the UK, had a listing of the Top 50 Children's Books today, and considering my undying love for Maurice Sendak and my Sylvester stuffed animal (a la Sylvester and the Magic Pebble) as well as the fact that I collected a Curious George book in each of the European countries I traveled to whilst abroad (let me tell you, Curious George: Panique aux la Chocalaterie is a laugh but doesn't touch Curious George Recibe una Medalla). Well you get the idea... The list after the jump. As usual check www.betterworld.com for (responsible) deals on these books!

Posted by Rudy Reyes Jr., Director

A friend and I hopped a train to Chicago last month to catch the Lyric’s performance of Verdi’s La Traviata. As we boarded the train, it was the usual aisle shuffle, weaving past newspapers, crossed legs, hand baggage, and the like. We noticed, across the aisle, a gentleman reading on a new e-reader. He looked relaxed, unfettered by large pages of the newspaper, and unburdened by turning pages. My friend asked an innocent question: “Isn’t this bad for companies like yours?” “

Posted by Jack Hanlon, CBO & Evangelist

As the resident evangelist and blogger I take whatever opportunity I can to talk about the great things that we do here at Better World Books. Considering the amount of positive emails I get, this is a relatively easy task, however sometimes, it gets even easier. After the jump (click the "Read More" button below the post) check out these letters from the Republic of Guinea written to Books for Africa from schools and missions expressing their gratitude. Through our book donations and funding and support, Better World Books is proud to be a part of a group that creates impact at places like this:

-Amazonion Bilingual School
-International Community College, Guinea
-Kwane Nkruma High School, Guinea
-Nelson Mandela English Academy
-Mission U.E.P. Primary School, Guinea
-The Conakry Grammar School, Guinea
-Faith International School, Guinea
-International Refugee Committee School
-Princess Diana Memorial Refugee School
-Women of Jesus
-Conakry International School
-Sabu International School
-Trust International School
-Sierra International School
-Call of Hope Mission International

Posted by Jack Hanlon, CBO & Evangelist

The Prison Book Program is a partner you may not hear that much about but it's an important one for us and one that Better World Books is truly proud to work with.  Whether it's us having organized the biggest book drive in Boston this fall (involving me and some co-workers spending two days locked in a Church sorting books) for their benefit or now more recently, shipping them 19 cartons (~23 books in each carton, ~440 total copies) of paperback dictionaries, we do whatever we can to help a most worth cause.

From Pam at PBP:

Thanks again for arranging to get those 19 cartons of paperback
dictionaries to Prison Book Program.  These will be an incredible help
to us -- approximately half of the requests from prisoners are for a
dictionary, and normally we have to purchase them in bulk.  This
shipment will keep us up to our ears in dictionaries for the
forseeable future!

As always, we value the partnership with Better World Books, and take
every opportunity to sing your praises from the rooftops!

Best regards,
Pam and the whole PBP gang

Here to help, Pam!

Posted by Jack Hanlon, CBO & Evangelist

Over at Slate, one of my favorite online magazines, the audio book club took on Elizabeth Gilbert's Eat, Pray, Love.  Listen to the podcast.  This book is one that is much talked about from people arguing that it's an "original work excellently written in a real woman's voice" to people who see her writing as bordering on  "petty, conceited and fickle."

Decide for yourself at www.betterworld.com