How to use this Page

If you were not able to rock the drop yesterday due to time, weather, or other such uncontrollable things, don't fret - you can totally drop a book today, this weekend, whenever time allows! When you do, leave us a comment here at the readergirlz blog or on Facebook, and tweet @readergirlz with the hashtag #rockthedrop - and include a picture if you took one!

You can also participate on a larger scale, if you'd like, by donating a bunch of books to the place or cause of your choice. Visit a local shelter, a school, a library, a children's hospital, and ask if they take donations. Once you've gotten the okay, gather up new or gently used books from your friends, family, classmates, and co-workers, add the bookplates, tuck in some bookmarks, then drop the books off!

For example, you could send Ballou High books from their wish list via Powells books! That would be a cool way to tie-in both readergirlz and GuysLitWire. Here's how you can help out Ballou High: It's Time for the Annual Spring Book Fair for Ballou High School Library!

You can also donate books to 826NYC, a non-profit organization that assists young writers between the ages of 6 and 18 as well as the awesome folks who teach them. If you'd like to send them books, here's the address:

826NYCAttn: Joan Kim
c/o: readergirlz Rock the Drop
372 Fifth Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11215 

During yesterday's tweets and texts, we heard about World Book Night, which is happening on April 23rd.  Learn more about that, and see if an event is happening in your neck of the woods.


Is this the first time you've heard of Operation Teen Book Drop? Anyone anywhere in the world may participate. It's free, it's fun, and it's global. Want to learn more about it? Click here!

It's here! Celebrate Support Teen Literature Day by dropping YA titles for happy readers to find! Rock the Drop with rgz, Figment, iheartdaily, Soho Teen, and 826NYC.

Well, now we’ve gone and done it.  Greedy gus that I am, I’ve always found it hugely inconvenient when my favorite authors and illustrators live in other countries.  Shaun Tan in Australia.  Kate Beaton in Canada (we had her briefly, then lost her again, consarn it).  And then there’s that charming Frances Hardinge.  When are we going to convince her to move Stateside?  Never if the publication of her latest book is any indication.  Or, shall I say, the LACK of publication since if you are looking for her latest novel A Face Like Glass here in America you are seriously out of luck.  Not entirely without options, mind you, since you can buy a Kindle edition (the hardcover claims to come out May 1st yet has “not yet been released” and has no American publisher) which is pretty much your only option if you’re a Yank.  Harper Collins has traditionally been the publisher of all the Hardinge books in the States but is eschewing her latest novel.  Unless, of course, they’re just biding their time until the spring.  However, if they do not opt for her latest I’d be more than happy to see some other publisher pick up the slack.  Recall, if you will, the fact that the last Hardinge won the 2010 Battle of the (Kids’) Books.  Just sayin’. Thanks to Dan Levy for the info.

• Speaking of Brits, a fascinating article came out in The Guardian recently posing the question: “Which books offer the best introduction to New York?“  The answer was a fascinating mix of the usual suspects (Mixed-Up Files, Eloise, Little Red Lighthouse, etc.) and stuff that would never occur to me, the New York Public Library Youth Materials Specialist.  Grk and the Hot Dog Trail?  In the Night Kitchen?  The Arrival?!?  I pity the poor child that walks into Manhattan with The Arrival as their guide.  Think of their disappointment (particularly when you consider that Tan took as much inspiration from classic Australian photographs as American ones).  Almost more interesting than all of these is the recommendation to read Rosa Guy’s books.  When we think of New York we almost never take her into consideration.  As I say, fascinating.  Thanks to Playing By the Book for the link.

• Speaking of New York City, heads up, hipsters.  Actually, a better way of putting this would be to say heads up those of you who want to hang out with famous people for a reasonable price and an even better cause.  826NYC is having its Dueling Bingos competition, and this season you’re going to have a chance to match your Bingo chops against folks like Sarah Vowell, the guy who plays “Pete” on 30 Rock, Catherine Keener, and maybe even Jon Scieszka if you’re lucky.  Are you in town August 1st?  Then you have no excuse.  Come by, come by . . .

• Is it just me or are more people dying this
  7 Comments on Fusenews: Rectify this sin, last added: 7/19/2012
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  Monica Edinger said, on 7/19/2012 1:22:00 AM
  

  While Hardinge’s LOST CONSPIRACY made it to the 2010 BoB’s Big Kahuna round it was actually Partridge’s MARCHING FOR FREEDOM that took the gold. I will say that I really, really liked A FACE LIKE GLASS (as I also discovered that we Yanks can get the Kindle edition) and hope it does come out on this side of the pond before too long. It is excellent.

  Elizabeth Bird said, on 7/19/2012 6:02:00 AM
  

  Whoops! The “Rectify this sin” post has now been rectified itself. Well, it deserved to win in any case. Just bad timing to come out against the excellent Partridge.

  Jennifer said, on 7/19/2012 6:26:00 AM
  

  Ah, not totally unavailable! You can purchase uk books on Book Depository – and the shipping is free, even if the books are sometimes a little more expensive than a vendor. I note that Face like Glass is only 12.75 at the moment. I used Book Depository to fill in the Skulduggery Pleasant series – I got frustrated with the weird release dates and boys were begging me for the next one, so I just bought it at Book Depository and our super cataloger wrote up a special record for it and voila!

  Julie said, on 7/19/2012 6:59:00 AM
  

  That retreat (and Society) look like a hoot. Thanks for sharing.

  Marc Tyler Nobleman said, on 7/19/2012 7:02:00 AM
  

  Thanks for the nod, BB! And love that Bookmobile pic.

  Elizabeth Bird said, on 7/19/2012 9:15:00 AM
  

  Good to know, Jennifer! Alas, for big systems like my own sites like Book Depository aren’t an option. In lieu of that I will just stare mournfully up at the windows of various editors here in town and play them a sad sad tune on my little violin.

  Carter Higgins said, on 7/19/2012 10:38:00 AM
  

  Kinda speechless to be included in such a stellar roundup. Thank you!!

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I have promised you tales of BINGO, have I not?  Tales to curl the very insides of your soul.  Tales that recount my magnificent victory over Lady Luck, Charlie Chance, and Sarah Serendipity!  And recount my tale I shall, but first!  Some mood music to set the tone.

That’s the stuff!

A week and a half ago I asked you, my faithful readers, to sponsor me in the 826NYC Dueling Bingos challenge.  Not only did you respond in kind but for a while there I was wiping the floor with the competition.  Then the competition bit back, but for quite some time we were really riding the wave of most-money awesomeness.  I promised that in return I would give you one heckuva recap of the event.  And recap I shall!

Oh, the outlook wasn’t brilliant for the Betsy Bird that day.  Having just finished moderating two brilliant panelists at NYPL for my Children’s Literary Salon (Stephen Roxburgh and Jennifer Perry, and it went beautifully) I immediately sped after work with husband in tow from Manhattan to Brooklyn on a Saturday night.  If you know the New York subway system then you’ll realize what a miracle it was to get there precisely on time.

I decided to wear something appropriately Bingo-ish.  I don’t know what constitutes correct Bingo attire, but I figured it should probably involve a lot of dots, right?  Here’s what it looked like during the Lit Salon:

Thanks to Melanie Hope Greenberg for the pic.  So with dress, husband, camera, and Flip camera in tow we burst through the doors of 826NYC.

A quick word about the actual physical doors of 826NYC.  Each 826 venue (there are many throughout America) is fronted by a faux storefront that covers up the true nature of the facility in an amusing fashion.  In New York, the front is a Superhero Supply Store.  Inside you can buy many of the fun “superhero” products that they sell.

Inside the place filled up fast.  That was when we heard the rules behind the game.  You see, in dueling bingo you have an actual opponent.  Whoever you sit across from is your rival.  Then there are three games of lightning quick speed and whoever gets the best of three is crowned the ultimate winner.  Easy peasy.

To make the game a bit more lively you can take the money folks have donated in your name and “buy” extra bingo cards and even balls for the caller with your preferred number and letter.  So if you look at these cards:

2 Comments on Dueling Bingos: Emphasis on “Duel”, last added: 8/12/2010