Make a Splash! with Kate Klise, Part 3

How can you make a splash this summer? It's easy, says Kate Klise, author of Regarding the Fountain. Kate was in Providence recently to kick off our summer reading program. While here, she shared with us some cool ideas for splash making. Here's idea #3:

3. Steal Someone's Identity.

 No, no, no. I'm not suggesting you steal someone's Social Security number and apply for a credit card using a false identity. What I am suggesting is that you start keeping someone else's diary. Why? Because let's face it: Keeping your own diary can be a bit dull. But you can write somebody else's diary. Write the diary of an 11-year-old prince who's been exiled from his native country and is forced to live with commoners. This is how you feel anyway, isn't it? "Awoke to another day of misery with these people who claim to be my parents. Can't they see I'm different? Don't they recognize my innate nobility? No, and so I'm forced to chew their tasteless porridge and clean out their appalling garage. But I have a plan that will put this injustice to rest once and for all." See how fun this could be? You can write The Diary of a Prince in Exile. It could be the first in your bestselling series. You could make a bigger splash than Jeff Kinney did with Diary of a Wimpy Kid. Write it this summer.

Scenes from the 1st Youth Reading Across RI Celebration at the State House

Do you have pictures from June 12th? Email them to youthrari@gmail.com to add them to the slide show!

Make a Splash! with Kate Klise, Part 2

How can you make a splash this summer? It's easy, says Kate Klise, author of Regarding the Fountain. Kate was in Providence recently to kick off our summer reading program. While here, she shared with us some cool ideas for splash making. Here's idea #2:

2. Become an Expert.

Pick someone you like and read everything he or she wrote. Did you like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory? Then become an expert on the author, Roald Dahl. Read Matilda. James and the Giant Peach. The BFG. Read about Dahl's life in England. Or did you love Everything on a Waffle better? Then become an expert on the author, Polly Horvath. Or become an expert on the Beatles. Read and listen to everything you can find by and about them. Or how about that leaky oil well in the Gulf of Mexico? What if you spent this summer becoming an expert on that? Figure out a way to prevent oil spills in the future - or a way to move people around without using oil and gas. The answers are almost certainly buried somewhere in your library. Figure it out. If you do, you might win a Nobel Prize? How's that for making a splash?

Cool Off with this Fountain Video!

Wilcox Fountain, Westerly Rhode Island from Youth RARI on Vimeo.

Wilcox Park in Westerly, RI was first designed by the Boston landscape architect Warren Manning, a former associate of Frederick Law Olmstead. The architect Frank Hamilton continued his work in plans for the addition of the pond and other varied terrain.

The Wilcox Memorial Fountain is composed of an octagonal water basin made from Westerly granite, with a bronze center statue of a woman holding a large scallop shell. The statue was designed and modeled by John Francis Paramino of Boston, and installed in Wilcox Park in 1929.

Make a Splash! with Kate Klise

For the next five days, we will be posting Kate Klise's speech from the Youth Reading Across Rhode Island/Summer Reading Kickoff held on June 12th at Rhode Island's State House. If you missed the event, you can still hear her message. And she has some great ideas for how each of you can Make A Splash this summer with reading and writing!

Make A Splash by Kate Klise

How can you make a splash this summer? It's easy, says Kate Klise, author of Regarding the Fountain. Kate was in Providence recently to kick off our summer reading program. While here, she shared with us some cool ideas for splash making. "You don't need money or credit cards or a driver's license or even a swimming pool," Kate said. "All you need is time and a library card. And if you have tose two things, you can make a HUGE splash this summer."

Here are five fun ideas from Kate:

1. Get Funny.

Do you like funny books? So do I. Do you know that you can be funny, too? It's a trick you can learn. You just have to go to the library and check out the Amelia Bedelia books by Peggy Parish. Remember Amelia Bedelia? When she's asked to dress the turkey, she puts a dress on the bird. When she's supposed to draw the drapes, she sketches the curtains. I loved those books when I was young. And so I re-read them all several years ago when I wanted to learn how to get funny. I realized that the secret to humor is often a misunderstanding. Mix-ups are comic gold - maybe not in real life, but certainly in books and movies. You can learn how writers use misunderstandings to make readers laugh. Because once you learn how to be funny, once you get funny, you can write a funny book. You could do it this summer. Whouldn't it be cool to go back to school in the fall with a funny book that you wrote? You would make a splash with your classmates!

Note: Click on the picture to enlarge.

Check out this Fountain!

If you happen to live in Newport, or are planning to visit, check out this fabulous fountain in the Newport Public Library's Children's Room in honor of the 2010 Youth RARI book, Regarding the Fountain by Kate Klise.

And, another view of the fun fountain. Doesn't it make you want to stop by, make a wish, and dream about your ideal fountain?

Promoting Summer Reading - Olneyville Style!

Here's a great photo of Toni Garcia from the Olneyville Library, Providence Community Library, promoting this year's summer reading program. Sign me up!