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Hello, everyone, and welcome to silviaacevedo.com! This is your best place to find my latest news, works, and musings.
Please take a look around the site, and feel free to reply to posts. I love hearing from fellow writers, journalists, and people from all walks of life.
Posted November 22nd, 2011 by Silvia
I had to laugh when I read this New York Times article, which at the start seems to suggest that parents who use e-readers are hypocritical by insisting their children read paper books. To quote a bit, “They freely acknowledge their digital double standard, saying they want their children to be surrounded by print books” and they “fear that a shiny gadget might get all the attention” and “if little Joey is going to spit up, a book may be easier to clean than a tablet computer.”
Chah! There’s no double standard here. There’s intelligence. Wisdom, even.
I have no fears that little Joey will grow up to be at least computer literate. His parents already own e-readers, so there’s a decent chance that they own other electronic communications devices, and there are also computers at the very libraries and schools that little Joey may visit or attend, and, oh yeah, his place of work will likely have a computer, too. So I’m not worried that little Joey will think an e-reader is a shiny paperweight.
I’m a lot more worried — as are his parents obviously — that little Joey will think of the e-reader as a nifty projectile. Seriously, what do toddlers do when they’re done with a book? They throw it. Okay, maybe, if they’re particularly gentle children, they’ll drop it. Super. Imagine, all my faithful readers, going to your bedroom and repeatedly dropping, oh, say, your alarm clock, which probably cost a whole lot less than your precious e-reader. After even two drops, are you still thinking that giving little Joey an e-reader is a good idea? Of course parents are hesitant to hand their kids devices that cost hundreds of dollars. Witness the evidence; this second picture is from a friend who handed his iPhone to his toddler. Not as pretty as the first picture above, is it?
So let’s imagine instead that you choose to simply hand little Joey a couple hundred-dollar bills (the cost of the e-reader). What will he do with the bills? Why, tear them! Obviously! That is why books for the young are BOARD books, because otherwise the books would end up shredded all over the living room or chewed up in baby’s belly.
And, yes, I must concur with parents that electronic gadgets don’t enhance a child’s concentration. How many times have we seen children hit buttons just to see what will happen? It’s power at their fingertips!!! “Forget what Curious George did at the zoo!” thinks little Joey. “Look what happens when I press the bat! He flies! Yippee!” It’s cool and all but doesn’t exactly help him sound out the word “bat.”
So I say, don’t feel too hypocritical if you refuse to surrender your electronic gadgets. They’re yours for now. When little Joey can handle it and respect it, he too can enjoy all the whiz-bang extras of the latest and greatest electronics. He’ll be just fine for now.
Posted in In The News | No Comments »
Posted September 12th, 2011 by Silvia
This weekend, my eldest daughter, Corina, did something pretty awesome. She took home the third place medal for what was only her third meet as a high school cross country athlete!
It was during her 4k (2.5 mile) run at the Whitnall Invitational at Hales Corners Park. In that meet, her time dropped almost two minutes from the previous races! She’s loving the sport and her truly supportive teammates. Here’s a great picture of my daughter sprinting toward a finish line. Go, girl! Go!
Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments »
Posted August 19th, 2011 by Silvia
What a wonderful time! This morning I enjoyed the rare opportunity of guest hosting a television talk show. The Morning Blend is a warm, affirming, and really fun show airing weekdays at 9 a.m. on TODAY’S TMJ4. Lovely host Tiffany Ogle welcomed me as I filled in for her equally talented partner, Molly Fay.
It was my first time on television in nearly three years. I remembered how it all worked, so I guess it’s just like riding a bicycle. 
Want to watch some of my foibles? Just go to The Morning Blend’s website, click on “Past Shows,” and choose the links under Friday, August 19, 2011. I’d love to hear your feedback!
A special thanks goes out to everyone at The Morning Blend for welcoming me!
Posted in In The News | No Comments »
Posted May 16th, 2011 by Silvia
and let’s celebrate because I’ve finished my latest manuscript! It’s a 68,200-word young adult fantasy. Can’t say what it’s about yet as that’s under wraps, but it’s off with my agent, and I’m really pleased with it.
Posted in A Writer Writes, In The News | No Comments »
Posted April 19th, 2011 by Silvia
This weekend I had the privilege of attending US Speedskating’s Board of Directors meeting, which is where big (and small) changes are made in U.S. speedskating regulations. The spring meeting is held in a different city and area of the country each year, and Milwaukee was the place this go-around. I sat through every minute of it and posted a link at the end of this post to the board actions that I think will most interest skaters.
First, let me briefly tell you how the event was laid out. It began Thursday night with a roundtable discussion in which 24 board members and USS staff were onhand to answer questions from the general membership. Friday was devoted to committee meetings, where proposals were debated and eventually voted on to either die in committee or advance to the board. Saturday was when the board made the final votes on each proposal, either denying them or turning them into law. How’s that for PoliSci 101? I think Marquette U. should give me an honorary degree.
So what are the changes? There were 25 that I thought would most interest my readers. You can find them HERE.
Posted in Speedskating | No Comments »
Posted February 12th, 2011 by Silvia
Okay, I’ve been a part of the speedskating scene for a long time, but today I actually got a little bit of authority at a meet. I was one of the officials at the 2011 Masters International Long Track Speedskating Championships held at the Pettit. Tempting as it was to flaunt my new powers and disqualify anyone who looked at me funny, I instead behaved and did my best to keep the racing fair and moving along.
Here you see me setting up with a bucketful of blocks. These blocks are rubber lane markers laid out along the turns and sometimes the straightaways to clearly mark lanes. I also acted as a corner judge (watching that skaters not cross too far to the inside), finishing line judge (watching that skaters not kick out their skates and are ranked according to their finishing place), and heat box caller (getting the right skaters checked in and onto the ice). The latter was very easy, as adult skaters know where they are to be and when.
I had two fabulous assistants in my youngest children, whom you see here. They are preparing to put red and white armbands on the skaters. The armbands indicate in which lanes the skaters start. The kids also checked racing numbers and order at the starting line.
I learned a lot from officiating. Some rules that were fuzzy in my mind are now crystal clear, which should assist my own skating, and we all had a great time.
Posted in Speedskating | 1 Comment »
Posted January 27th, 2011 by Silvia
I am so happy to announce that the latest of my husband’s books has been released and is now available to buy!
Thumb Wars: The Ultimate Guide is the world’s definitive guide to that favorite let’s-decide-who’s-right fight, the thumb war. This activity book details rules, recommends conditioning exercises, and even comes with the niftiest anti-cheating glove ever — the Sleeve of Doom! Scholastic’s motto — “There’s no going back once you enter the Sleeve of Doom.”
Jeff did every illustration in the book, the cover, and even a lot of the layout. You can find more of his art here.
The book is already available online (If you go through Amazon, please leave a review!) and is slated to hit bookstores in February, so please go out and buy it!
Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments »
Posted January 26th, 2011 by Silvia
This weekend U.S. Speedskating held its 2011 Pack Style Long Track National Championships in Roseville, Minnesota. I’m happy to say that I defended my national championship title, and my daughter Antonia had an absolutely spectacular showing to come in second in her age division.
Here’s a picture of one of her starts. She’s the second from the left in the green skinsuit.
Her competition was fierce, and she performed magnificently, even getting a personal best. That’s not easy on an outdoor rink in -12 degree temps with gusting winds. Even an extra layer of spandex doesn’t help. I mean, it’s spandex, after all.
And here’s a photo of the Master-class gals that I skated with. We just love this sport!
A special thanks goes out to my daughter Corina and son, Armando, for their help at the meet and to my husband, Jeff, for his constant support.
Posted in Speedskating | 1 Comment »
Posted December 29th, 2010 by Silvia
Today I skated my first marathon distance — 126 laps on the Pettit National Ice Center Olympic Oval. That’s 50K (31 miles) plus one extra lap just to add an exclamation point.
The U.S. Speedskating National Marathon distances are 25K and 50K. My daughter, who skated along with me, surpassed the 25K distance by skating 100 laps. It’s a fun distance that our club does to celebrate the end of the year, and it’s pretty excellent for an 11-year-old. She did it last year, too! Way to go, Antonia!
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Posted December 8th, 2010 by Silvia
Today Scholastic, the leading publisher and distributor of children’s books, released its list of top ten trends in children’s books for 2010, put together by its editors and literature experts.
So what was hot this year? According to Judy Newman, President of Scholastic Book Clubs, the answer is a great story told differently. “We’ve seen some exciting innovation in children’s publishing in 2010, including new formats and platforms for storytelling that are helping more and more kids become book lovers. At the same time, we’re seeing a rejuvenation of some classic genres, which I think is evidence of the timeless power that stories and characters have on the lives of children.”
Here’s Scholastic’s list:
1 ) The expanding Young Adult (YA) audience: More and more adults are reading YA books, as the audience for these stories expands.
2 ) The year of dystopian fiction: With best-selling series like The Hunger Games and The Maze Runner, readers can’t seem to get enough of fiction that suggests the future may be worse than the present.
3 ) Mythology-based fantasy: Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson series set the trend – and now series like The Kane Chronicles, Lost Heroes of Olympus and Goddess Girls are capitalizing.
4 ) Multimedia series: The 39 Clues, Skeleton Creek and The Search for WondLa are hooking readers with stories that go beyond the printed page and meet kids where they are online or via video.
5 ) A focus on popular characters – from all media: Kids love to read books about characters they know and recognize from books, movies and television shows. Titles centered around those popular characters (like Fancy Nancy, David Shannon’s “David,” or Toy Story characters) are top sellers.
6 ) The shift in picture books: Publishers are publishing about 25 to 30 percent fewer picture book titles than they used to as some parents want their kids to read more challenging books at younger ages. The new trend is leading to popular picture book characters such as Pinkalicious, Splat Cat and Brown Bear, Brown Bear showing up in Beginning Reader books.
7 ) The return to humor: Given the effects of the recession on families, it is nice to see a rise in the humor category, fueled by the success of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series, Dav Pilkey’s The Adventures of Ook & Gluk: Kung-Fu Cavemen from the Future, and popular media characters like SpongeBob, and Phineas & Ferb.
8 ) The rise of the diary and journal format: The Diary of a Wimpy Kid series is the most well-know example of this trend, but the success of Wimpy Kid is leading to popular titles such as Dear Dumb Diary, Dork Diaries, The Popularity Papers, and Big Nate.
9 ) Special-needs protagonists: There is a growing body of literary fiction with main characters who have special needs, particularly Aspergers Syndrome and Autism. Examples: My Brother Charlie, Marcelo in the Real World, Mockingbird, and Rules.
10 ) Paranormal romance beyond vampires: The success of titles like Linger and Linger, Beautiful Creatures, Immortal, and Prophesy of the Sisters shows this genre is still uber-popular and continues to expand.
Posted in A Writer Writes, In The News | No Comments »
