A Message from Our Friends at RIF

Since the people of Reading Is Fundamental were kind enough to give away so many copies of The Best Mariachi in the World/El Mejor Mariachi del Mundo recently, the very least I can do for them is to spread the word about the 2009 Read with Kids Challenge, which began on April 1 and continues until June 30. Participants in the challenge are encouraged to log the amount of time they read with children, and the goal for participants nationwide is to record a total of 5 million minutes of reading, with chances to win a variety of prizes.

The link above and the illustration below will explain this better than I can.

People can even form reading teams in support of their favorite authors. Now there's an idea.

Anarchy in the Pre-K! (Now with Pictures)

Visit accomplished! I have proof, thanks to Chris Clardy of the Brooksfield School.

And on the morning of April 1 there were indeed sombreros, one full-sized and another, too small even for the kids, that could maybe fit a very patient guinea pig or rabbit.

There were two sessions. The first was with what I was told were 57 or 58 three to five-year-olds. They are very small and move fast, so I wasn't able to count them myself. The second was with about two dozen six to eight-year-olds, who aren't as small but move even faster.

I have two appearances scheduled in May, which I'll discuss soon, and tomorrow I plan to post a message from our friends at Reading Is Fundamental.

Until then, I welcome your guesses as to what I am holding in my right hand in the last picture.

FESTIBA and The Best Mariachi in the World on Rasco from RIF Blog

It's a blog world, after all. It's a blog world after all . . .


You get the idea.


Rasco from RIF, the blog of Reading Is Fundamental CEO Carol H. Rasco, has a post right here about Community Day in South Texas on March 28 at FESTIBA, held at the University of Texas-Pan American in McAllen. The video slide show here provides an overall sense of what went on, including pictures of children looking over their own copies of The Best Mariachi in the World.

I knew that RIF was giving away a fair number of copies, but I had no idea how many. As it turned out, RIF gave away more than 1,000 copies of The Best Mariachi in the World to kids and their families.

I hope that a great many niños y niñas are enjoying the book, perhaps even as I am writing these words.

Reading (about Mariachis) is Fundamental

You never know what a simple online search might bring.

Yesterday I was looking for references to The Best Mariachi in the World/El Mejor Mariachi del Mundo, and I found this press release for the Festival of International Books and Arts (FESTIBA) to be held March 22-28 at the University of Texas-Pan American in Edinburg, a city of the Rio Grande Valley.

The press release states:

"FESTIBA is a weeklong celebration of the arts and humanities and promotes literacy and cultural awareness by providing students and the Rio Grande Valley community interactive, hands-on opportunities to experience books, theatre, storytelling, music, art, dance, and performance competitions."

Those are all good things, but I could not yet see how they related to Gustavo and his canciones.

I had to read down to the middle of the piece to find the connection, which goes something like this:

"During FESTIBA, more than 300,000 books will be distributed in more than 30 Valley schools through its partnership established last year with Reading is Fundamental, Inc. (RIF), the nation’s oldest and largest children’s and family nonprofit literacy organization. In 2008, RIF distributed 16 million books at 18,000 sites throughout the United States.

Stephen Leach, director of Government Relations and Community Outreach for RIF, said during FESTIBA Community Day March 28, visitors to the RIF tent will be able to meet Maya and Miguel from the animated PBS children’s show thanks to Scholastic, the global children’s publishing, education and media company. Children will also receive from RIF a free copy of the book 'The Best Mariachi in the World,' by J.D. Smith."

I am honored to have my book selected for distribution by such an outstanding organization, and I hope that my work will be of some small help in their mission.