Reflections Collections -- 3/13/11

I am writing this post while watching CNN and the reports on Japan's disastrous situation following the earthquake, the tsunami and the partial meltdown of its nuclear power plant. The Arab League is discussing making a no-fly zone over Libya. The Arab nations are in turmoil with the potential of democratic change. Union bashing is the new tactic of Conservative American politics. Into these challenges comes the fan-based mission of RFF to foster literacy among our youth. It is, after all, the youth who will solve such problems in our future. Meanwhile, our thoughts and prayers and mental focus are with those of our world who are dealing with the problems of today.

Our heartfelt sympathies go out to all who have lost loved ones during these tumultuous weeks.

Image is Alien © julien tromeur - Fotolia.com
Alien ©julien tromeur - Fotolia.com. Used with permission by Valerie Coskrey only.

Most of what I would have to say this month has been posted in the blog as articles. So this issue is mostly links to those posts.

During the last month, there have been 3 FB Reports: First; Second, 2/18/11; and 3/6/11.

Dave has sent in information on Renovation and the work that RFF and AboutSF is doing getting ready for the workshop for teachers, parents, librarians and fans who are interested in teaching with science fiction and fostering literacy. This day-long workshop is sure to be interesting and informative. Read more about it in these blog posts: "Announcement: RFF Teams with AboutSF for Roadshow at Renovations" and Spotlight: Who I Would Like to See at Renovations 2011. The Spotlight features information about authors that have assisted in the mission of RFF in the past.

David Brin provided RFF with an excerpt of his Skeptical Environmentalist.

Two book reviews were posted this past month: Summers at Castle Auburn reviewed by Lynda Williams, and Space Winners reviewed by Rozalyn Mansfield. I will add that I found another reference to G.R. Dickson's book in which the person called it Space Swimmers. Additionally, two authors have asked me to review their newest books.

Three posts dealt directly with teaching with science fiction. If you add the comments in Rozalind's book review, that makes four. Three of the 4 are by Rozalind, so became an interlinked series.

• "What SF Story for YA is This?" is Rozalyn's puzzle starting the 3-part series.
  
• "Book Review: Space Winners by Gordon R. Dickson" is Rozalyn's book review.
  
• "Teaching with Science Fiction: Social Studies and ..." concludes Rozalyn's series with teaching suggestions and is a part of the Reflections series Teaching with Science Fiction."
  
• "Teaching with Science Fiction: 10 Reasons for Use of SF in the Science Classroom" is by Valerie Coskrey.
  

Another series with a blog posts this past month is To Share or Not to Share: How does one decide..." a continuing dialog on what criteria is used to recommend a book to youth. It expands on the question I am exploring on how to evaluate children's literature. This post is Part 2 in the series, and the 3rd post on the central question.

Happy St. Patrick's Day. And thank our lucky stars that we are able and willing to help those in the disaster zones of our earth today.

Reflections Collection -- 10/25/10

Celebrate the Outreach

To date this blog has been viewed 184 times.

RFF, Inc.,  now has a Reading for the Future community on Live Journal as Reading4Future  administered by Julia.
http://community.livejournal.com/reading4future

Cie explained the power of Facebook in accomplishing the RFF mission in Outreach through Facebook.

The Facebook Report

Likes for the Facebook is growing and is now over 200.
Cie continues to locate interesting and informative links. Others are beginning to post links there, too. Read weekly summaries of activity on Facebook in the FB Reports. To date there are 3: Since the Facebook page is older than the blog, the initial FB Report does some catching up; after that the postings are done weekly, 10/10/17 and 10/24/10.

If you know of a link that suits the RFF mission, add a comment here and/or mention it to Cie. Another way to get your ideas about science fiction for youth is to become my friend on Facebook. Be sure to mention RFF or Reflections in the message when you Friend me. Also, I will want permission to quote you from time to time; if that is OK, add "Yes, quote me," so I can include comments you write, too. If you send me your website url I will reference it when you are quoted. Then add links and conversations about speculative fiction for children, effect of reading speculative fiction, children and reading, etc. Share it on the RFF page on Facebook or with me or Cie.

Foundations that Ground RFF

The Letter from the Killer Bees has been added as a page to this blog. Remember, this is the letter that encouraged David-Glenn Anderson to start the first RFF Yahoo! Groups to grow a collaboration of volunteers into the body of Reading for the Future that it is today.

In the Blog Pages

Among the new permanent pages added to the blog is a Newsletter page. This page will list links to the Reflections Collections and to the FB Report posts so you do not have to search the archives. The Resources page contains links to organizations with similar goals, Teacher workshops and lessons from RFF members, book lists, science fiction conventions of interest to RFF, and more.

Recent posts to Reflections

Our own Lindalee Stuckey, also of Golden Duck Awards, discusses media piracy in Comments from a Concerned Librarian.

Learn about what The Heinlein Society does for encouraging reading in youth, the Pay it Forward Blood Drive, the free CD/DVD for educators and librarians chock-full of teaching resources, and more.

A primary activity in promoting the mission of RFF is the presentations by members at science fiction conventions. Read the Call for Papers to plan how you can participate, know which convention to attend, or even what questions to ask RFF members about what RFF can do for you. Currently, this information is updated in the comments. Eventually this could become a regular feature like the FB Report. A word of caution: to be sure that you miss nothing, join RFF and get the ongoing discussions as they are created.

Cybils: Another Site with a Similar Mission

Cybils offers an annual award to authors of children and young adult books. There are numerous book reviews on the Cybils site, too. Look for a future article on this effort. Look for the link to the newest Cybils awards in the 10/25/10 Facebook Report.

Notes from the rff-blogmaster

Cie sent a list of royalty-free images, mostly from NASA this time, to use to spice up Reflections.

David Brin keeps tossing provocative question out to his Facebook friends. In response, they comment enthusiastically. Look for an article on last Wednesday's discussion to be posted, hopefully, later this week.

Regretfully, no one sent in a book review during the last two weeks. Many RFF members are currently busy getting lessons and such together for upcoming teacher workshops at a couple of sci fi conventions and for an RFF databank. Plus their day jobs keep them busy. However, I ran across this blog that has reviews of children's fiction. Check out , although the archive seems to indicate a long period of inactivity. And there are plenty of book reviews on Cybils to keep you busy for a bit.

So much to write about, so little time! There were some interesting discussions in the rff group. There are plans for future articles based on several of these discussions. How will you know where to find them? Keep reading the blog. Click that Feedburner button and get the Reflections by RSS feed.

And don't forget, you can write an article, too. Just send it to me. Or send me your ideas and data and I, or one of the others on the blog committee, will work it up.

Quotes from the Group

What have you done for RFF today?

"I give general SF talks all the time and I always mention RFF and what we do."
~Turnshek, 9/26/10 message to rff Yahoo! Group.


"Tor.com, the blog for the publisher Tor, is celebrating the 40th anniversary of the publication of Ringworld with a series of blog posts about the book. Here's my post about using Ringworld to learn about and teach about physics - in the comments, I provided links to RFF and AboutSF.
"http://www.tor.com/blogs/2010/10/ringworld-physics"
~Andy Love, 10/19/10 message to rff Yahoo! Group.

Note from Valerie: Join the RFF Effort

Join RFF in our efforts to donate speculative fiction--science fiction, alternative history, and fantasy--for grades K-12 to schools and libraries. Give a book or two today. Leave a comment here and on the Reading For the Future page on Facebook that tells us what books inspired you to read, stay in school, and study for your chosen career! Join others with this mission. Join RFF, a collaboration of volunteers.