QBR Now Free

      QBR The Black Book Review, from the producers of the Harlem Book Fair, is now a free, digital, downloadable magazine on HP’s Magcloud.com.(www.magcloud.com/browse/issue/31098).

Featuring what is best and current in black books, it’s a great resource for what to read and writers to watch. And, if you are an author, or want to reach our audience, it’s a great way to touch our readers with your book, products, or services.

Here’s the link to the magazine: www.magcloud.com/browse/issue/31098. Select the ‘Digital Free’ option and sign up using the ‘Follow’ option to be automatically informed when a new issue is released. The journal is published bimonthly.

Study Abroad Opportunity for High School Students

This is a rare opportunity for high school students. Please share this with any students you know who may be interest.

Application Deadline—January 11, 2012

Go to http://www.yesprograms.org/yesabroad

The Kennedy-Lugar YES Abroad program, sponsored by the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, is offering American high school students and recent graduates in the U.S. full scholarships for up to one academic year to live and study abroad in countries with significant Muslim populations. Scholarships cover expenses for program fees, pre-departure and arrival orientations in Washington DC, secondary health insurance, and ensure careful placement with host families that, like you, are eager to share themselves with the world.
Participate on a program in one of these countries: Click on the country for more information:

Bosnia & Herzegovina | Egypt | Ghana | India | Indonesia | Mali (semester only)
Malaysia | Morocco | Oman | Thailand | Turkey

Like the YES inbound program, students live with host families, attend high school, engage in activities to learn about the host country’s society and values, acquire leadership skills, and help educate others about American culture while learning about their host country’s culture. During the 2012-2013 school year, 55 American students will travel overseas.

Upon their return the students will apply their leadership skills in the United States. In addition, alumni groups will help participants continue to be involved with many community service activities including: clothing drives, mentoring younger children, and much more.

 

Two Big IFs

IF you work with high school students, you should know about Questbridge. QuestBridge is a powerful platform bridging the nation’s brightest, under-served youth and leading institutions of higher education and further opportunities. We are an aggregator of excellence. QuestBridge provides a single, internet-based meeting point which links exceptional students with colleges, scholarship providers, enrichment programs employers, and organizations seeking students who have excelled despite obstacles. By facilitating these exchanges, QuestBridge aims to increase the percentage of talented low-income students attending the nation’s best universities and the ranks of national leadership itself.

IF you’re watching television tonight you might consider beginning PBS’s “Women, War and Peace” series. 

Women, War & Peace is a bold new five-part PBS television series challenging the conventional wisdom that war and peace are men’s domain. The vast majority of today’s conflicts are not fought by nation states and their armies, but rather by informal entities: gangs and warlords using small arms and improvised weapons. The series reveals how the post-Cold War proliferation of small arms has changed the landscape of war, with women becoming primary targets and suffering unprecedented casualties. Yet they are simultaneously emerging as necessary partners in brokering lasting peace and as leaders in forging new international laws governing conflict. With depth and complexity, Women, War & Peace spotlights the stories of women in conflict zones from Bosnia to Afghanistan and Colombia to Liberia, placing women at the center of an urgent dialogue about conflict and security, and reframing our understanding of modern warfare.

 

Featuring narrators Matt Damon, Tilda Swinton, Geena Davis and Alfre Woodard,Women, War & Peace is the most comprehensive global media initiative ever mounted on the roles of women in war and peace. The series will present its groundbreaking message across the globe by utilizing all forms of media, including U.S. and international primetime television, radio, print, web, and worldwide community screenings, and will be accompanied by an educational and outreach initiative designed to advance international accountability in regard to women and security. Women, War & Peace is a co-production of THIRTEEN and Fork Films.

 

Free Summer Audiobooks

SYNC Summer 2011 has launched with 16 free YA & Classic books!

The first YA novel / Summer Reading Classic pairing  is available June 23 – June 29
Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater
Romeo & Juliet by William Shakespeare

download here:
http://www.audiobookcommunity.com/group/sync

These upcoming titles will be of particular interest to readers of this blog:

Available July 7 – July 13
Where the Streets Had a Name by Randa Abdel-Fattah
Available July 21 – July 27
Chanda’s Secrets by Allan Stratton
Available August 11 – August 17
The Cay by Theodore Taylor

complete list
(Remember to complete the entire process to secure the final MP3. You have from June 23 – June 29 to download the MP3 audiobooks below, but there is no hurry to listen to it–the title does not expire.)