Book It!

Growing up, millions of kids got free pizza for reading books.  In a crafty marketing ploy, Pizza Hut gave kids a free personal pan pizza for reading a few books.  The pizza's were small, but they weren't meant to feed a family.  The idea was likely to get the kids to read, they give them a free small pizza and the family can go to 'The Hut and order food for the rest of the family while the royal reader ate his free pie.  It was effective, and its still going today.  Maybe I'm cynical for thinking like that, but it was mainly to get families to eat out at their store.  Whatever the reason, at least it worked and it gave kids a reason to read.  Some even began a love affair with reading.  Yours truly didn't fall into that category, as I'm not much of a book fan, unless its a short book or contains short stories.  Maybe that's why I like reading blogs so much (which I admit I've been slacking off a bit on that too).

I was never good with book reports,  in fact I somehow managed to fake them pretty decently.  Once I combined two books I half read and managed to get an A.  I even forgot the author so I said her name was "Diana Something".  Truth is, I did read both books I think, I just didn't remember much of either so I did it as one.  I don't even think they had the same plot.

I strongly advise against this to any kids reading.  I think reading is fundamental and as someone who had hopes of getting some sort of degree in English or Mass Communication, I do look back and wish I would have gotten a passion for reading more.  I think grammar has suffered because people don't read as much anymore (that and because of texting, which is one reason why I don't have a cell phone).

With all that being said,  I "read" a book recently.  It was a kids book.  Well, I looked at the pictures and read a few pages.  I could have read it as it was only like 12 pages, but I had no interest in reading it, I wanted to scan it for the pictures and to blog about it.  READING IS FUN!

Women playing baseball?  I think I'll wait for the movie.... wait.... I think this book is based on the movie a bit.  From what little I did read from it, they loosely based it on the movie.  I know it was a kids book, but it could have been done a lot better, and didn't need to use so much from the movie.

"Did you promise the cows you'd write?"

I can't say for sure, but this drawing/picture looks like its Fenway Park.  If that IS what they were going for, then they missed the mark.  I haven't done a lot of reading, but from my understanding, the AAGPBL was mainly a Midwest and some southeast thing.  I could be wrong though on both accounts.  I do think it is interesting they created a version of a Marlboro sign in center field for A KIDS BOOK!

"They call her Betty Spagetti."

GIRL BASEBALL CARDS!?!  Its a shame they don't put more emphasis on female sports cards today.  I know they still make them, but I never hear about WNBA cards anymore.  I think there is even pro Softball leagues (I'm sure there is; one played recently in Columbia with former Mizzou star Chelsea Thomas pitching), make cards for them.  It seems Goodwin and SI For Kids are the only ones who make them regularly anymore, and then whenever Women's World Cup and the Olympics come around.  Its a shame the only ones ever creating a buzz are the Benchwarmer cards.

I did like this page, I learned some new lingo.  I'm not sure how well these would go over today, especially Scrubwoman (because TLC made the World know they didn't want any Scrubs, even though they were themselves Scrubs, or Pigeons as Sporty Thievz shot back with).

Um.... people don't watch women play sports much because you never see it on TV.  I loved during the NBA Finals the commercials for gender equality featuring the NBA and WNBA stars.  The emphasis was you should be paid equally no matter your gender.  Nice and I agree except that WNBA players aren't paid well.  In fact some get paid more overseas, so much so that they sign contracts overseas that specify they CAN'T play in the WNBA so they will be well rested.  Maybe the NBA should look into that.  Maybe a better TV contract could allow for better contracts and better TV ratings.  Sorry for that rant.

I understood they meant today female athletes aren't a novelty act like in previous eras, but this page still rubbed me a bit the wrong way.  It also seems to insinuate that today's female athletes are far superior to previous eras.  Whatever.

I think I'll stick to short stories, though this was a short one, I will read newspapers.  If they are still made.

This is an excerpt from a book I browsed last night detailing the history of my town.  We once had many newspapers, but they all went away.  I have toyed with the idea of starting an online paper featuring the news of the town (mainly a way for me to cover the H.S. sports and work on writing).

This book was published in 1973, during the Centennial celebration for our town (I wasn't born yet), so in about 8 years I have hopes a new one will be made, but with the shape the town is in, I kind of doubt much will be done.

So after skimming some books, I'm a little hungry, I think I might get some pizza. Thanks for reading and have a great night.