Monday 22 November 2010

Calling All YA Bloggers - Idea for Blog Tour

For my day job, I work as an assistant on a project which aims to get schools more involved in the Olympics and Paralympics through PE and other areas of the curriculem (technology: designing things, foreign languages: the languages of countries taking part, history: how the East End of London, where the park is situated, has changed over the years, etc). Even the Mascots, Wenlock and Madeville, were created to get younger people interested.

While doing some research today, an idea came to me. I myself may not be a huge sports fan, but that doesn't mean that some of my readers aren't. So the idea of doing something sports related for the Olympics might be a good idea, and thought possibly you guys may be interested too?

There are no definites at this point, this is just me seeing if anyone is interested. But what I thought so far is having an Olympic sports blog tour on blogs at some point. Possibly during the games? Before it? I don't know. Each blog could read Olympic sports related book, and see if we can get every sport covered, i.e. one blog does football, another boxing, another Gymnastics, and so on. If you want to see, here are lists of the Olympic Sports and Paralympic Sports. We could see if the books covered can be by British authors, but that's not hugely important. Can see if we can get authors to do interviews or guest posts regarding the Olympics, past Olympics, athletes, etc etc.

EDIT: I originally said UK blogs as London is hosting the Olympic and Paralympic Games this time round, but athletes from other countries take part don't they? So why not try and get interest and support for them through reading sports related books in their countries? Open to everyone!

This is just an idea, as I said, and not at all set in stone. If anyone is interested, or has any other ideas, please comment.

EDIT: If anyone is interested, can you actually email me at joannestapley[at]gmail[dot]com instead please? If you've commented already, no worries, I'll sort that out, but if not, please email about your interest. Comment for everything else :) Cheers.

18 comments:

  1. Interesting idea...Too bad I'm not from the UK :( Good luck though!

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  2. Thank you! I suppose it doesn't have to be just the UK... athletes from elsewhere are entering, so why not get their teenagers involved and supporting? Ooooh!

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  3. This sounds like a good idea. I myself am not really a huge sport fan I must admit (I fail big time in PE at school)! But I'd be willing to help out! It's something that I don't think has been done before and it sounds like it'd be quite fun!

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  4. Great stuff, Iffath! As I said, I'm not a huge sports fan myself. Which is why I think one sports related book per blog is good - you're not overloaded with books you may not end up liking. Thanks for your interest! :)

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  5. Well..In that case..I may be willing to help ;) I'll have to come back & keep updated though ;)

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  6. I think it's a great idea, different and interesting! Though aside from Equestrian sport I do tend to avoid it all... But if you want a volunteer to read about olympic dressage, show jumping and/or eventing, I'd be more than happy to ;)

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  7. Hannah - Awesome. I'll probably contact everyone after a while via email, so it's all cool, I'll update you :)

    Cem - Thank you! Ha, you can have anything horse related, you've called dibs :) Lol.

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  8. I'd be totally up for doing sports book/events posts. I think leading up to the Olympics would be great so we can all learn about the events, etc and feel more knowledgeable when the Olympics take place. I am doing my best to be in London for the Olympics and this would make it even more fun!

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  9. Cool stuff! Great, thank you! :)

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  10. This sounds really interesting. unless geocaching can be classed as a sport, I don't do any..although I read and review YA books, my blog is also varied...plus I'm no longer YA age :O I digress...I'd love to take part if there's an autobigraphyical slant, or something like that. I loved the gymnasts they had on Britains Got Talent..don't know if they've got anything in the pipeline **scratches head*** but I'd be up for author interviews and reading at least one book if you think my blogs suitable.

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  11. Great stuff, thanks for the interest! :)

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  12. This sounds like a great idea. I wasn't expecting to like Girl Overboard by Justina Chen Headley as much as I did because of the focus on snowboarding, but I really enjoyed it.

    Another idea would be to do a reading challenge equivalent of the knitting Olympics that people in the online knitting community do - basically, people in country teams try to complete as many projects as they can between the opening and closing ceremonies, and then a winning country is declared. Hmm...

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  13. Oooh, a reading challenge might be good, but I think I'd stay out of that. I can only do so many sporty things, lol. But great idea! And thanks for the interest!

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  14. What a cool idea! The first YA novel about sport that comes to mind is "A Perfect 10" by Chris Higgins (the narrator is a jealous teenage gymnast!).

    I'm starting a UK-based YA review blog soon with some other folks and I'm sure one or more of us would be interested in reviewing sports-related YA books.

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  15. I'm in! Would it be books in all categories or (for example) 'snowboarding for dummies' type books? It would be fun to do YA/MG books because there is such a lack of sports protrayed in YA (which is odd since so many teenagers I know play a sport) :)

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  16. YA library UK - That's brilliant! Thanks for your interest!

    Ari - I'm not exactly sure what you mean. My idea is that each sport in the Olympics is covered in MG/YA novels if possible - if there is no book on a specific sport, that can't be helped. but if bloggers wish to cover other sports outside of the Olympics on their blog as well, they're free to do so - if that's what you meant. It's just really using the Olympics to get us doing something and promoting reading and/or sport. Does that make sense? Have I answered your question?

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  17. I would be interested in participating, if you have too much trouble getting books that are about the sporting events you could always have readers read books that take place in the countries that are participating in the Olympics. I'm sure if we look that we can find books that cover a lot of the sports though. Send me an email when you start getting things lined up or if you just want to brainstorm ideas. :)
    jessica(at)novelreaction(dot)com

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  18. Thanks for your interest! The idea of reading books set in the countries participating is a great idea! I will email you, thanks.

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