Endless Summer

We wish!  If the summer actually was endless, we could perpetually hold our Young Writers Camps, on and on, forever and ever. But alas, the summer is finite, and we must now send our 75 campers (grades 1 - 9) back to school with renewed confidence in their creative abilities and writing skills, so we guess it all balances out.

Each moment was a pleasant surprise, like when Binh (picture above) crafted the first sentence of his captivating spy story: "I am a man with two identities." The stories created over the past five weeks ranged from adventures featuring Nosey Anteaters and Wimpy Lions, to a day in the life of a water balloon. And no matter the subject of the story, each student's work was given the royal, Page 15 treatment: a professionally-illustrated custom cover and a professional portrait of the author to accompany his or her bio. Not to mention a week packed with authors giving away signed copies of their books, artists, songwriters and screenwriters talking about their craft. And to top it all off, thanks to generous donations from people like you, students attend the camp free of charge.

Thank you to everyone who sponsored a scribe!

Third Time's A Charm

Our phones (all two of them) have been ringing off the hook with people excited about our 3rd annual Young Writers Summer Camps.  We're at it once again with five weeks of camps during which 75 children (grades 1 through 9) will take home a beautiful book of their own creation.  Just like last year, songwriters, illustrators, authors and other creative professionals will be brought in to provide extra inspiration.  And also like last year, our students were nominated by their teachers based on creative and financial need, and nearly all our students' tuition is sponsored by members of the community.
 

For more information on how you can "SPONSOR A SCRIBE", click here.

Spring Brings Budding Poets

Our first ever Spring Break Slam Camp was a great success. Eighteen campers from seven Orlando high schools worked all week under the guidance of the talented Shawn Welcome to perfect a piece of poetry to perform at the end of the week. The combination of thought and skill that came out of this group was enough to forever silence any doubters of the upcoming generation. Click here to view photos from the camp. Coming soon: complete footage of the final performance that will blow your mind! Figuratively!

Goodbye, but not for long.

You may have heard or read about Urban Think! Bookstore closing its doors at the end of March. The news is true and sad, but there's always a silver lining. Urban Think! Foundation, of which Page 15 is the flagship program, is currently considering taking over the space in an effort to enhance its overall mission: to support educational programs, foster community spirit, and facilitate creative opportunities for greater Orlando. More details on what the space will become (other than awesome) will be released in the next couple of months.

Despite the closing, we'll still be holding our third annual Young Writers Camp in the bookstore space.

We are famous!

Page 15 founder, Julia Young, was recently featured on Fox 35's morning news. Watch the video here.

An Interview with Edward Bloor

Who said the long-form interview was dead? The staff of Page 15's online school newspaper program, The Howard Hype, recently sat down with YA author Edward Bloor for an extensive interview about being a writer, success and failure in the industry, and the annoying trend of vampires in YA fiction. Bloor gained recognition for his debut novel, Tangerine, and has since written six more books. His latest, Journal of the Plague Year, is due out from Random House in the spring of 2011. Read part one of the interview here. Part two can be found here. Enjoy!

Oh What a Day!

Thanks to the hundreds (!) of parents, kids and friends who made it out to BOOK BOUND, Page 15's first ever FREE book giveaway at the Lake Eola's Farmers Market on Sunday, Oct. 18th.

The day could not have been more perfect, with children and families coming from all over Central Florida to enjoy the gorgeous fall weather and to celebrate the love and power of reading with their community.  Lines began forming 30 minutes before starting time and, once registration was officially open, our tent was flooded with little hands grabbing for books.  Our "Make Your Own Bookmark" craft table and story-telling area were crowded all day as more and more families made their way in.

Overall, 122 adults attended BOOK BOUND, registering 174 kids and donating over $400 to Page 15 programs.  At the end of the day, we put over 800 books directly into kids' hands. 

All Good Things Must Come to an End

As summer comes to an end, Page 15's army of young writers are preparing to enter a new school year with more confidence and imagination thanks to five amazing weeks at the 2009 Young Writers Camp.  With more students participating than ever before, this year's camp was a huge success.  A big THANK YOU to the volunteers and sponsors that allowed these students to enjoy camp at no cost to their families.  We'll close this chapter with a word from one of our students:

What's All the Hype About?

Another amazing in-school program launched by Page 15. We have been working with Howard Middle School to create their first ever online school newspaper. After much thought, writing and design, we are proud to unleash The Howard Hype. The fully-online newspaper features interviews, polls, entertainment and news, as well as art and creative writing from the Howard student body. This program, like all Page 15 programs, was offered to Howard for FREE. And finally, a huge thank you to Planet Digital who designed the site. Now go see what the hype's about!