Kids Lit
Books and More for Children and Teens

TheLifestyles and Entertainment section of Floridy Today has an article on the new popularity of "little sister" magazines for teen girls. These include Teen People, CosmoGirl, ElleGirl and Teen Vogue. But the best part of the article is the nice but short list of magazines that offer something different to teens: Blackgirl, Girls' Life, New Moon, and Teen Voices.

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A New York Post article says that another of the American Girl characters is going to be featured in a film. This time Felicity, the girl from 1774 Williamsburg will be the star. Samantha was already a hit for the WB network.

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Seeing Past Z: Nurturing the Imagination in a Fast-Forward World by Beth Kephart. (0-393-05882-4)

This is not children's literature, but an amazing series of essays on Kephart raising her son to be a reader and a dreamer, intentionally removing him from the race to improve his high school resume as a child. The reader gets to watch as her son reluctantly starts to read on his own for pleasure and eventually turns into a force of creativity all his own. This book will do any librarian's heart good. It is a celebration of what language, reading, and imagination can do to transform somone's life. A must read!

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eSchool News online is carrying the story of Spellings, the new education secretary, denouncing PBS for spending public money on an episode of Postcards from Buster that features a lesbian couple. The episode does not focus on the couple but on their maple sugaring in Vermont. What a sad statement when conservatism like this is allowed to determine what families have access to. It certainly tells gay and lesbian parents exactly where they stand in the new secretary's eyes.

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it's sharyn dot org! is a site by Sharyn November that offers a large collection of links to children's and teen book authors and related resource links.

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Guys Read is a program to get boys reading. The website is graphical and fun. It offers lists of books to choose from, including ones picked by other guys, and a great selection of links to related sites.

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Wilde Writing Works from Susie Wilde, offers reviews, interviews, bibliographies and more on children's literature. She also gives out two sets of awards, Picture Book and Longer Book.

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Wands and Worlds: Young Adult and Children's Fantasy and Science Fiction is a great site that lists authors, series, subjects, and much more for science fiction and fantasy books for youth. The contents of the site are amazingly up-to-date and comprehensive. A wonderful place to look for recommendations for kids or for yourself.

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UNICEF -- Childhood Under Threat: The State of the World's Children 2005 tells the stories and shows the statistics of children around the world living in poverty, caught in conflict, and suffering from HIV/AIDS.

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Sydney Taylor Book Awards are given by the Association of Jewish Libraries to the best Jewish children's literature of the year. This year, Real Time by Pnina Moed Kass won the award and six books were chosen as Honor Books. Thirty-one notable books were also chosen.

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We Are Family Foundation is the organization that sent the Christian right into a tizzy over SpongeBob. The fundamentalists argue that SpongeBob is a homosexual icon and that the Foundation is trying to promote homosexuality to children. A video of the song "We Are Family" was sung by over 100 characters from beloved TV shows, including Barney, Arthur, Bear, Big Bird, Clifford, JoJo and of course, SpongeBob. The performance was done in the wake of 9/11 to celebrate our diversity and tolerance. A DVD will be released "soon" that has the children's music video on it.

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The Comic Brief has a story about Marvel's new publishing contracts:

"Marvel Enterprises, Inc., (NYSE:MVL) - the dominant force in the comic book market through its Marvel Comics division - has entered into major licensing agreements with four of the world's leading publishing houses: DK Publishing, Harper Collins, Meredith Books and Simon & Schuster's Pocket Books as part of a strategy to increase the presence of its leading character franchises in various mass market book publishing formats."

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ALSC announces new children's book award named for Theodor Seuss Geisel

The Theodor Seuss Geisel Award will be presented annually to the author and illustrator of the most outstanding book for beginning readers. The first award will be presented in 2006.

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BBC News reports that JK Rowling has had a baby daughter. This makes three children for Rowling. Congratulations!

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The Quick Picks for Reluctant Readers is always a list that I look forward to, because it helps so much with collection development. I know that these books are going to circulate well with both readers and reluctant teens. Also, the list is quite budget-friendly, because many of the titles are in paperback.

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MadChatter is a blog by Dr. Ruth Cox Clark, a YA Literature professor. One to check out and add to your feedreader.

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Quad-City Times Newspaper Online has an article on an Iowa book challenge where parents are turning the tables on a school district that is restricting access to James Howe's The Misfits.

"Two Pleasant Valley parents are challenging the decision to restrict the use of a book with a gay character in the district’s elementary schools, saying the decision violates constitutional protections for teachers and students, the process was not as open as it should have been, and the board violated its own policies."

Woo hoo!
.

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The Crutcher Book Challenges page has information on the attempt this month to remove Crutcher's Whale Talk from the curriculum in a South Carolina school district. The final decision will be made soon by the superintendent and as always, I hope that a book is retained.

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YALSO has selected the ten books for the 2004 Alex Awards The Alex Award is given to adult fiction and nonfiction that will "intrigue and challenge the diverse audience of teen readers."

The award winners are:

Davis, Amanda. Wonder When You’ll Miss Me. William Morrow/HarperCollins, $24.95 (0-688-16781-0).

Haddon, Mark. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time. Doubleday, $22.95 (0-385-50945-6).

Hosseini, Khaled. The Kite Runner. Riverhead, $24.95 (1-57322-245-3).

Niffenegger, Audrey. The Time Traveler’s Wife. MacAdam Cage, $25.00 (1-931561-46-X)

Packer, Z.Z. Drinking Coffee Elsewhere. Riverhead, $24.95 (1-57322-234-8).

Roach, Mary. Stiff. Norton, $23.95 (0-393-05093-9).

Salzman, Mark. True Notebooks. Knopf, $24.00 (0-375-41308-1).

Satrapi, Marjane. Persepolis. Pantheon, $17.95 (0-375-42230-7)

Winspear, Jacqueline. Maisie Dobbs. Soho, $24.00 (1-56947-330-7).

Yates, Bart. Leave Myself Behind. Kensington, $23.00 (0-7582-1348-9).

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Schneider Family Book Award recipients named

The Schneider Award is a new award from ALA that honors an author or illustrator for a book that "embodies an artistic expression of the disability experience for child and adolescent audiences."

The 2005 winner for picture book is My Pal, Victor/Mi Amigo, Victor by Diane Gonzales Bertrand, illustrated by Robert L. Sweetland.

The winnter for middle-school level is Becoming Naomi Leon by Pam Munoz Ryan.

And the teen award goes to My Thirteenth Winter: A Memoir by Samantha Abeel.

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The 2005 Best Books for Young Adults is now available online! Yippee! Even more books to add to my library reserve list.

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Woo hoo! The Current Notable Children's Books List is now available online. I love this list because there are always incredible books on it that I have missed through the year. Enjoy!

The YALSA website doesn't have the YA list up yet, but I hope to have the link posted later today or definitely tomorrow.

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e-Grants is a portal from the U.S. Department of Education for web-based grants.

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Laurence Yep has been awarded the Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal for his "substantial and lasting contribution to literature for children." Yep has written picture books and juvenile fiction that represent Chinese Americans in history and today. He is a perfect choice for the award.

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JS Online: Kevin Henkes 'Takes Five'

This interview with Kevin Henkes includes his reaction to winning the Caldecott Medal this week. Plus a wonderful testimonial to the power of books and reading.

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The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books 2004 Blue Ribbons list is now available on their website. This annual list of favorite books includes picture books, nonfiction and fiction.

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Batchelder Award is given to the most outstanding children's books originally published in a foreign language in a foreign country and then translated into English and published in the United States. This year's winner is The Shadows of Ghadames by Joelle Stolz. The two Honor Books are Daniel Half Human and the Good Nazi by David Chotjewitz and The Crow-Girl by Bodil Bredsdorff.

I have raved about Crow-Girl before on this blog. It is a remarkable book with a strong setting and even stronger young heroine. I am thrilled that it received this kind of recognition.

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The Margaret A. Edwards Award was also announced today. It is a lifetime achievement award for writing for teens. It went to one of my favorite YA authors, Francesca Lia Block, who writes with such love of language that turns her work into a playground for the mind. Her books are light and quick, but deep and breath-taking. Hurrah for such a wonderful artist getting the award!

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The Michael L. Printz Award was announced today too. The Printz Award recognizes excellence in books for young adults. The winner is
Meg Rosoff for How I Live Now.

The three honor books are:

Airborn by Kenneth Oppel
Chandra's Secrets by Allan Stratton
Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy by Gary D. Schmidt

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ALA | 2005 Media Award Winners

The Newbery and Caldecott Awards were announced today.

Kira-Kira by Cynthia Kadohata won the Newbery and Kitten's First Full Moon by Kevin Henkes won the Caldecott. The link above with take you to the list of honor awards as well. The honors include two of my favorites of the year: Al Capone Does My Shirts by Gennifer Choldenko and Knuffle Bunny by Mo Willems.

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LitPlans
is a website offering lesson plans, teacher's guides, and study guides for middle school and high school teachers. Authors are listed by last name, with the most popular authors pulled out and listed on the front page. The collection of items for each author is very impressive and will save teachers lots of time in searching for literature-related items. It will also be of help to librarians who conduct book discussion with teens or do book talks.

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Family Fun comes through once again with a wonderful holiday page: Everything Valentine's. It offers ideas for homemade cards, crafts, treats, parties, and games. All to make your Valentines Day even sweeter.

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About Children's Books has a great listing of Graphic Novels Anime Comic Books that includes articles on recommended graphic novels, the definition of what a graphic novel is, and booklists galore.

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Cyberschoolbus from the United Nations is a global project to aid in learning and teaching. It offers information on the nations of the world, information on the UN, curriculum, events, children's art, and recommended books.

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Tolerance.org is a site from the Southern Poverty Law Center that fights against hate. It offers information for teachers, parents, kids and teens to help promote tolerance in schools.

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IFILM has an online trailer for Wallace and Gromit, the new feature-length movie based on the popular and wonderful short films by Nick Park. The film is due out in theaters this fall.

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BBC NEWS -- Alert over Harry Potter web scam

A website claiming to offer early electronic versions of the new Harry Potter book has been shut down, but fans are being warned that more web scams like this may start appearing.

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The movie version of Because of Winn-Dixie now has a trailer available on their website. The movie is due to be released in mid-February and the trailer shows a movie firmly rooted in the book but of course with different dialogue. I also miss the broad southern accent that was present in the book. It is nowhere to be found in the trailer.

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youthXchange is a site for teens created by the United Nations. It offers information on teen health, spirituality, consumer rights, sustainable lifestypes and much more. It works to tie everyday teen decisions and life to the larger world.

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Web Wise Kids is a website that provides information on Internet safety for parents and children. It offers statistics, advice, rules, safe sites, information for educators, and a FAQ.

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Children's Picture Book Database at Miami University offers abstracts of more than 5000 picture books and a keyword search, all designed to create thematic units and story times.

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The Graphic Novel Review has its January 2005 issue available online. It contains interviews, reviews, and a sneak preview.

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JS Online: School libraries are seen as central to life, learning

Milwaukee Public Schools have received a grant of $316,000 to expand school library services with the goal of demonstrating how a strong school library strengthens reading success in students. The money will be used in ten Milwaukee schools to keep libraries open after school and offer some summer hours, provide more training for librarians, and encourage collaboration between librarians and teachers.

A great quote from the article:

"At Green Bay Avenue School, Dennis Juno, the librarian, says, "Every person has to become so valuable that they're not going to be let go."

He called the grant "a key to making libraries invaluable . . . which we should be. We should be the heart of the school.""

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Lore: An E-Journal for Teachers of Writing has some great articles on academic blogging. I am including this on Kids Lit, because it pertains not just to college blogging, but also blogging in primary and secondary schools.

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Play Me - take a Journey to Wonderland offers an fascinating journey into the rabbit hole. Kids can create their own mini-films of Alice's story, print out activity sheets, listen to the book online complete with pictures from different editions of the book, or discover the true story of Alice. NOTE: This site must be viewed on IE not Firefox, because it does not resize to fit the window on Firefox.

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Papertigers.org is a site that specializes in books for children from and about the Pacific Rim and South Asia. Their book of the month is one of my new favorites, Tiger on a Tree by Anushka Ravishankar. The site also includes book reviews, interviews, essential reading, and resources.

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Kiddie Records Weekly from Basic Hip Digital Oddio will offer a weekly MP3 recording of a children's record from the 40s and 50s. The first, released this week, is Walt Disney's Robin Hood. Items in the archive will be available, but the high quality version will only be on the site for a week.

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Mid-Continent Public Library provides an incredibly inclusive list of Juvenile Series and Sequels. The list includes over 18,000 books for young readers, grade schoolers and young adults. It can be browsed in several ways including series title, series subjects, book title, and author.

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