Tomorrow, the first "Al's Book Club For Kids" pick will be announced. The Today Show has teamed up with Scholastic for the four book program:
"Scholastic is proud to join with 'Today' to promote summer reading," stated Francie Alexander, Scholastic Chief Academic Officer. "Al Roker is likely to do for kids' reading what Oprah has done for adults' reading!"
Have I missed something? Is Al Roker hugely popular with kids?
Dudes, it's *AL*. How can you not love Al, even if you are eight? Just look at him! He's the best!
And this book club is pretty much the best thing ever.
Posted by: kasa | 26 April 2007 at 04:52 PM
Four books. All from Scholastic, I'm guessing? Fingers crossed that he picks RULES by my friend, Cindy Lord.
Posted by: Kelly Fineman | 26 April 2007 at 05:48 PM
Maybe the 'Al is Hip' campaign started with Gore, and we missed the kidlit implications...
Posted by: TadMack | 26 April 2007 at 05:59 PM
The cynical side of my assumes that all four selections are from Scholastic, since they are apparently sponsoring it. If that's true, then the thing that bothers me is that this is being promoted as being about helping kids find books that they love, when in reality it's about selling books for Scholastic. If Al Roker really wanted to encourage reading, he wouldn't limit it to only books published by Scholastic in trying to find four great books that will get kids excited. It basically makes Al Roker a shill for Scholastic.
Of course, it doesn't actually say that the books will be Scholastic books, so I could be wrong. If I'm wrong, I'll be pleasantly surprised.
Posted by: Sheila Ruth | 26 April 2007 at 09:31 PM
I'm rather pleased with Scholastic and Al. Even if the books are all from them, it doesn't mean that children aren't going to read other books.
Why, a child might see a blurb on the cover from another author, and then another, and another, and another.
Hook em' while they're young.
Posted by: Adam S. | 27 April 2007 at 02:09 AM