Literacy Now

The International Reading Association (IRA) is excited to announce that popular children’s book authors Jeff Kinney, Dav Pilkey, Megan McDonald, Matt de la Peña, and Mary Pope Osborne and renowned educators P. David Pearson and Rafe Esquith will speak at the IRA 59th Annual Conference in New Orleans on May 9-12, 2014.

Jeff Kinney


Megan McDonald


Dav Pilkey


Matt de la Peña


P. David Pearson


Rafe Esquith


Mary Pope Osborne

Diary of a Wimpy Kid series author Jeff Kinney kicks off the conference at the Opening General Session on the morning of Saturday, May 10, 2014. Kinney was named one of Time magazine's 100 Most Influential People in the World and was twice voted Author of the Year at the Children's Choice Book Awards. The Wimpy Kid series won Favorite Book at the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards three times.

Later on May 10, Megan McDonald, author of the Judy Moody and Stink series, will speak at the Primary Literature Author Luncheon. McDonald has penned over 60 books for children and young readers. Her hilarious Judy Moody books have won numerous awards, ranging from a Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year to an International Reading Association Children's Choice to the first-ever Beverly Cleary Children’s Choice Award. McDonald also created a series featuring Judy’s brother, Stink, and The Sisters Club trilogy.

The General Session on Sunday, May 11, 2014 features Dav Pilkey, creator of the Captain Underpants series, which is now published in 22 languages. Pilkey also wrote the children’s favorites Dog Breath, winner of the California Young Reader Medal; The Paperboy, a Caldecott Honor Book; The Adventures of Super Diaper Baby, which debuted at #1 on the New York Times bestseller list; and the Dumb Bunnies series.

Sunday’s Young Adult Literature Author Luncheon speaker is young adult novelist Matt de la Peña, author of the critically-acclaimed and award-winning books Ball Don’t Lie, Mexican WhiteBoy, We Were Here, and I Will Save You. He is expanding into younger children’s literature as well, with the release of the picture book A Nation’s Hope: The Story of Boxing Legend Joe Louis (illustrated by Kadir Nelson) and his middle grade contribution to the upcoming Guys Read: Thriller anthology.

The Closing General Session on Monday, May 12, 2014 will feature two additional luminaries. P. David Pearson, former dean of the Graduate School of Education at the University of California, Berkeley, the nation’s foremost literacy researcher and chair of the IRA Literacy Research Panel, will offer research based perspectives on critical issues of literacy education. Rafe Esquith, author of the New York Times bestseller Teach Like Your Hair’s on Fire, the only teacher to have been awarded the president’s National Medal of the Arts, will offer insights on dynamic classroom pedagogy. Esquith has thirty-plus years of experience as a classroom teacher and has been given the American Teacher Award, the Compassion in Action Award from the Dalai Lama, Kennedy Center/Stephen Sondheim Inspirational Teacher Award, Parents magazine’s As You Grow Award, Oprah Winfrey’s Use Your Life AwardTM, and People magazine’s Heroes Among Us Award.

The special guest for the Book and Author Luncheon on Monday is Mary Pope Osborne, author of the New York Times number one bestselling Magic Tree House series and co-author of The Magic Tree House Fact Tracker series, along with her husband, Will, and her sister Natalie Pope Boyce.

“The 2014 IRA Conference will offer literacy educators unparalleled opportunities to gain valuable new insights on literacy instruction, including the latest in research-based instruction, classroom-ready teaching ideas, and practical, ready to use ways to implement the Common Core State Standards in K-12 classrooms,” explains IRA President Maureen McLaughlin.

“We’re thrilled that so many literacy educators consider our conference their number one event for professional development and networking,” adds IRA Executive Director Marcie Craig Post. “We work to improve it each year, whether it’s including more or better programs on the latest hot topics or streamlining registration and services. We’ve been listening to attendees to determine what they want and need to improve their skills as many states transition to Common Core State Standards implementation. This year is guaranteed to be the best conference yet.” 

The IRA 59th Annual Conference will be held at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in New Orleans, Louisiana, from Saturday, May 10 through Monday, May 12, 2014, with an Institute Day on Friday, May 9. Registration will open in December 2013. For more information on programs, registration, and exhibits call 800-336-7323 (302-731-1600 international) or visit the official conference website at www.iraconference.org or follow #IRA14 on Twitter.

1993 IRA William S. Grey Citation of Merit Winner

October 4, 2013

Anthony Vito Manzo, Tony, age 73, died on Saturday, August 17, released at long last from the relentlessness of pancreatic cancer. Tony was born in 1940, son of Vito and Gerolema Manzo of Brooklyn, and grandson of Antonio and Francis Manzo, and Giuseppe and Vita Distefano, all of Castelvetrano, Sicily, and each of whom he held close in his heart for all of his life.

Dr. Manzo was Professor Emeritus at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. There he founded and directed the Center for Studies in Higher-Order Literacy and the Education Unit of a unique Interdisciplinary Doctoral Program. He was a groundbreaking scholar, distinguishing himself early with a 1969 dissertation that was published in article form in the same year and is still widely cited in journals and textbooks in the field. His remarkable subsequent productivity was honored by a 1993 selection to join an elite group of academicians as recipient of the International Reading Association’s William S. Gray Citation of Merit for lifetime research and publications that have “vastly improved the instructional dynamics of countless classrooms and inspired the work of other scholars and researchers.” The doctoral students he mentored over a thirty-year career have made significant contributions to the field and have, in turn, mentored others. Tony was well aware that his reach always exceeded his grasp, and he left with many projects on the drawing board. 

In family gatherings, at the handball club or other social occasions, Tony could always be counted on for amusing anecdotes or mind altering opinions about history, politics, psychology, society, or life in general. Tony is survived by his wife Ula, children Maria, Lisa, Anthony, and Byron, and grandchildren Kristin, Claire, Sophia, Max, Ivan, Alexander, Gianna, Francesca, Nicolo, and Tommy John.  He treasured them each, individually, and followed and guided their life paths with high expectations for their success and happiness.

A private family burial was held at Ascension Cemetery in Lake Forest and a memorial service was held on Saturday, August 24 at O’Connor Mortuary, 25301 Alicia Parkway, Laguna Hills, California.

The International Reading Association (IRA) is pleased to announce our Board nominees for 2014-15.

2014 Slate for IRA Board of Directors:
Donald Bear, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa
Julie Coiro, University of Rhode Island, Kingston, Rhode Island
Eric Cooper, National Urban Alliance, Syosset, New York
Lori DiGisi, Framingham Public Schools, Framingham, Massachusetts
Janice Dole, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah
Glenda Nugent, Private Consultant, Saint Peters, Missouri

2014 Slate for IRA Vice-President:
Diane Barone, University of Nevada, Reno, Reno, Nevada
Brenda Overturf, Educational Consultant, Louisville, Kentucky

The election opens on December 16, 2013. The deadline to vote is 5:00 p.m. (Eastern Savings Time) on February 10, 2014. New Board members begin their terms at the IRA Annual Conference in May 2014.

IRA members who have provided IRA with a valid e-mail address and have opted to receive e-mails from IRA will receive your ballot by e-mail and can vote online. Visit the IRA member account page on Reading.org, e-mail customerservice@reading.org, or call 1-800-336-READ to check and update your e-mail address.

IRA members who do not have valid e-mails or who have opted not to receive e-mails from IRA will receive paper ballots but will still have the opportunity to vote online.

More information about the nominees will be publicized on the Board Elections section of IRA's website and on Reading Today Online soon.

On Saturday, October 12, Dr. Jack Cassidy, received the Lifetime Achievement Award in Literacy Education at the annual conference of the Texas Association for Literacy Education (TALE). Also, the TALE Board voted to name the award in his honor. The award will now be called the “Jack Cassidy Lifetime Achievement in Literacy Education Award.”

Cassidy was one of the founders and the first President of TALE in 2011-2012. Texas is the second largest state in land area, and coincidentally Cassidy is one of the founders and first elected President of the Diamond State Reading Association (DSRA) in Delaware, the nation’s second smallest state in land area.

In the almost forty years between his first and second state presidencies, Cassidy was elected president of the International Reading Association and the Association for Literacy Education and Research (ALER - formerly the College Reading Association). In 1994, he received the IRA Special Service Award, which is given, from time to time, for unusual and distinguished service to the International Reading Association recognizing admirable service to the organization in some specific capacity or capacities, requiring special skills, knowledge, and creative effort. In 2007, ALER gave him the A.B. Herr Award for distinguished service in reading. It recognizes a professional educator who has made outstanding contributions to the field of reading. In 2010, Cassidy was inducted into the Reading Hall of Fame, considered one of the most prestigious awards granted to those in literacy education.

Cassidy has over 100 national publications including over 50 nationally refereed journal articles, books, and book chapters. In addition, he has been an author, editor  or consultant on over a dozen series of texts and materials for children and youth. For 18 years, with various co-authors, he has written a column, “What’s Hot What’s Not in Literacy." The most recent column appears in the August/September 2013 issue of Reading Today. Longer discussions of literacy trends and issues (also with various co-authors) appear in a number of refereed journals, the most recent of which is the September 2013 issue of the Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy (“What Was Hot–and Not–in Literacy: What We Can Learn”). He has worked as a consultant for Educational Testing Service and was part of the Verbal Advisory Panel for the Scholastic Aptitude Test. In addition to hundreds of presentations in the United States, Cassidy has also presented papers in Australia (two times), Belgium, Canada (five times), Czech Republic, Croatia, France, Hungary (two times), Ireland (three times), New Zealand (two times), Philippines (two times), Sweden, and the United Kingdom.

In 2011, Cassidy retired as associate dean in the College of Education at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi. He is also Professor Emeritus at Millersville University (PA). Cassidy has a Ph.D. in Educational Psychology with an emphasis in reading from Temple University in Philadelphia.

The City of Sta. Rosa in Laguna, Philippines, celebrated International Literacy Day (ILD) on September 9 with Book Characters on Parade, a Slogan Contest, and Reader’s Theater. The event was highlighted by Honorable Mayor Arlene B. Arcillas reading to over 150 children in the People's Hall of the City of Sta. Rosa. The pages of the children's books she read were projected on a screen so that all attendees could read along. The Mayor also raffled off 20 bicycles to highlight one of the books she read in Filipino, “Ang Bisikleta ni Monmon.”

The Mayor has sustained her support for this annual literacy event in the city for the past seven years. The reading with the Mayor has always ended with each child having a book in his/her hand. Her advocacy models a significant adult in the community who values love for books and reading.

This activity is very much in line with the 2013 ILD theme adopted by International Reading Association, “Invent Your Future,” which was celebrated throughout the month of September. 

The City of Sta. Rosa’s ILD celebration was participated in by both public and private schools elementary pupils, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, government and non-government officials, the Dep. Ed. City Division, the Private Schools Administrators Association, Rotary Clubs of Sta. Rosa, the Reading Association of the Philippines, and parents. The President of International Reading Association, Dr. Maureen McLaughlin sent her greetings and message to the city stakeholders in education for all the things that they do to spread the good news of literacy and helping the children invent their future!

Furthermore the Reading Association of the Philippines under the leadership of the President, Melissa Orencia, a partner of the City in this yearly event, has scheduled a Kwentuhan sa Daycare and a Training of Daycare teachers before the end of
September. Likewise, Adarna House will donate books for the children who will participate in the kwentuhan.

For more information about the Reading Association of the Philippines (RAP), visit http://rap.org.ph.

Sally (Rizalina) Labanda is a Past President of the Reading Association of the Philippines (RAP) and a former International Reading Association board member.