Kids Lit
Books and More for Children and Teens

Bartography is a blog by Chris Barton whose first book will be released in 2007. The blog chronicles his writing as well as a general look at children's book publishing.

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The CCBC (Cooperative Children's Book Center) in Madison, WI has Reading to Understand: Children's Books to Use with Comprehension Strategies, a bibliography for reading comprehension. There are eight strategies for comprehension in the bibliography with matching books.

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Dawn Publications is a publisher of nature books for children and adults. Their site offers a list of new releases, those coming soon, special sales, specific series, and specific topics.

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This article from Sci Fi Wire gives us a glimpse of one of my favorite authors of teen books, Scott Westerfeld. It speaks about why he writes for teens and why teens enjoy science fiction.

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Canada.com reports on Indigo bookstores' technique of using a ten-member teen advisory panel to screen prerelease books. The teens are essential to deciding what is stocked on the shelves.

"Indigo's junior advisory board, in its second year of operation, is what a focus group would look like on steroids. The kids have more influence, a greater hand in the business, and get more compensation for their time -- in this case, a $1,000 gift card, an iPod Mini, a trip to Toronto and their own personalized section in Chapters and Indigo stores across the country.

A youth-oriented retail website is also in the works to help meet the needs of this growing audience.

This year, retail of kids books is up 37.6 per cent, with the biggest growth showing up in the nine- to 16-age segment.

Remove Harry Potter from the equation and sales in that category are still up an impressive 21 per cent."

Whoa! That is impressive! I wonder how libraries are reacting to this boom in teen publishing. Are they boosting their purchases in that section? I know that for me there have been a lot more books for me to choose from, so I end up purchasing more for the teens. Teen advisory boards have been a part of teen services in public libraries for awhile, but again, I wonder how much of their advice is taken on purchasing questions rather than programming.

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Children's Corner: Frighteningly funny reads a real treat gives a great look at this fall's new Halloween books for children.

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Peeps by Scott Westerfeld adds to his incredbile body of teen literature with this new take on vampirism. Cal is nineteen and a parasite carrier or peep. The parasite passes from one person to another via sex or even kissing. Cal is one of the few that is a carrier with almost no negative symptoms, most peeps end up crazy, eating other people, and surrounded by a brood of rats. Because Cal is infected, he has superhuman speed, strength, sense of smell and night vision. So he is the perfect hunter of the crazed peeps.

This story is not for the faint of heart. Alternate chapters tell the true tales of vicious parasites that will have you squirming and aching to run and wash your hands, if not your entire body. Those brave enough to make it past the disgusting parts of the story will find a fast-paced mystery clad in vampire robes. It is a book that should move off the shelves well, be passed around among groups of teens, and will be eaten up by vampire fans.

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Kidogo by Anik McGrory is the charming tale of a little elephant who looks throughout the African landscape for an animal that is smaller than he is. The illustrations in the book contribute to the feeling of Kidogo's size as he is dwarfed by the trees and clouds. Reach for this one when doing a story time on elephants or size. Children will enjoy seeing an elephant as small.

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E. Lockhart has announced on her blog the title and cover of the next book about Ruby Oliver, following her wonderful The Boyfriend List. The title of the new book is The Boy Book.

I can't wait! The Boyfriend List captured the voice and experiences of a teen girl with writing that made the entire book ring true and clear. If you haven't read it already, I encourage you to do so. Or you can listen to it on audio book, which is what I did. Beware of laughing aloud too much to drive well.

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Tundra Books is a Canadian children's book publisher that specializes in bringing books as works of art to children. Their site offers information on their authors, new releases, teacher resources, and downloadable documents like catalogs and award lists.

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TwoCan & NorthWord Books publish informational books for children. NorthWord also publishes picture books and specializes in wildlife books.

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Drowned Wednesday by Garth Nix is the third book in the Keys to the Kingdom series. Arthur is a human who has been drawn into the bizarre world of the House and has beaten Mister Monday and Grim Tuesday. Now he is taken back into the House with a broken leg where he finds himself among pirates and ships and lots and lots of water. Drowned Wednesday has turned into a whale due to her insatiable appetite. She asks Arthur for his help and he finds himself being chased by Feverfew the pirate, dealing with talking rats, exploring a world contained in a whale's stomach and much more. This series continues to be amazingly inventive, fun to read, and a joy to share with kids. Recommend it to those who like the Artemis Fowl series and other fantasy.

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In the Snow by Sharon Phillips Denslow, illustrated by Nancy Tafuri combines a gentle rhyming text with Tafuri's glorious pictures. The book shows the joys of feeding animals seeds in the winter. Children will get to see the range of animals hiding in the white landscape until they are tempted out by the seeds. Because the text is brief and rhythmic and the pictures are clear, this is a great choice for toddlers. It will lead to discussions about feeding animals and birds and other things that the children enjoy doing in the snow. Add this one to your snowy story times.

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A Truck Goes Rattley-Bumpa by Jonathan London, illustrated by Denis Roche is a perfect book to share with truck-mad toddlers. Unlike many truck picture books, this one has a rhythm and a flair as well as an underlying story of a family building a new house and moving into it. The colorful illustrations are clear and bold enough to project easily to large groups of children. Combine that with the popular subject and lots of truck noises for the group to make, and you have a winner for story times and lap reading.

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Peachtree Publishers has a special area, Treehouse for Kids, that has their catalog of books, information on events, selected favorite characters, and teacher's guides.

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According to Variety, Walden Media is working on turning the teen novel, Holes, by Louis Sachar into a sitcom. I'm not sure I follow how that would work with the story, since for me the book was one of those puzzle books where I suddenly heard a loud click when the pieces fell into place. Sitcom doesn't seem to match or deal with the complexity of the story.

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Groundwood Books is a children's book publisher that focuses on books by Canadian authors. Their site offers information on their new publications, editorial guidelines, and their Latino Books.

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Candlewick Press has a nice site that offers information on their bestsellers, awards, a section on their authors and illustrators, and downloadable activity kits for some of their most popular books.

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Seattlepi has an article on the efforts DC comics is making to recreate their vintage heroes into ones with more modern appeal: DC revamps its heroes for a grittier century.

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Asbury Park Press offers an article on Halloween books spur imagination. It contains some of my son's latest faves, like Peek-a-Boooo and T.Rex Trick-or-Treats.

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The Seattle Public Library has a great collection of staff-created Reading Lists that cover children, teens and adults. The children and teen lists are broken into broad categories, making browsing easier. They also offer links to other lists from the Washington Center for the Book.

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VOYA presents the VOYA 2005 Nonfiction Honor List of the best teen nonfiction written in 2004 and early 2005.

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Boyds Mills Press publishes books for children and teens. Their site tells of upcoming books, ideas for teaching their books, author and illustrator visits, and lists of books by genre and age.

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The homepage for Front Street Books offers information on the books for children and teens that they publish. They also have news, awards they have won, their writers, artists, and how to submit a manuscript.

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Reed Business Information and NBC announce winners of the first Quill Awards. Winners were chosen by readers across the country.

Book of the Year: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by JK Rowling.

Children's Illustrated Book: Runny Babbit: a Billy Sook by Shel Silverstein.

Children's Chapter Book/Middle Grade: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by JK Rowling.

Young Adult/Teen: Girls in Pants by Ann Brashares.

Graphic Novel: Marvel 1602 Volume I by Neil Gaiman.

The awards will be presented on Saturday, October 22nd and will air on NBC channels from 7-8 pm.

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Publisher's Weekly has an article on the Crockett Johnson Gem Unearthed. Johnson, author of Harold and the Purple Crayon, wrote Magic Beach in 1958, and although he was already famous for this Harold series, they published it with another artist's illustrations. This new release of the book will finally pair Johnson's words and art. This is a must-purchase for public libraries of any size.

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The Library of Congress has a website just for children: America's Library kids.us. They have selected parts of their vast collection to present in a child-friendly format: Amazing Americans, history, exploring the Capitol, and America at play.

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Author Sue Ellen Bridgers is an award winning children's book author. Her website offers information on her book, biographical information, and a newsletter on her recent work.

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Cinderella by Barbara McClintock is a gorgeous picture book version of the fairy tale. McClintock has illustrated the story in Louis XIV style, complete with palatial rooms, elaborate gowns, and incredible hairstyles. She has also kept the amount of text to a picture book level, meaning that children will not have to wade through a lot of text to follow the story.

All in all, this is a beautiful rendition of a popular story. If your other Cinderella versions are getting worn, add this one to the collection. It is an accessible and lovely choice.

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The Little Green WItch by Barbara Barbieri McGrath, illustrated by Martha Alexander is a Halloween take-off on The Little Red Hen. Little Green Witch lives in a hollow tree with a ghost, a bat and a gremlin. The witch finds some pumpkin seeds and goes through all the planting, watering, and picking with the three others refusing to help her. She makes a huge pumpkin pie and, of course, that is when the others come to help her eat it. Fans of the original story will enjoy the surprise ending.

This is a great non-scary book to share with preschoolers for Halloween story times.

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A Grand Old Tree by Mary Newell DePalma pays homage to the life of a tree. From being covered in huge white blossoms, to bearing fruit, to sowing seeds and creating new trees, and giving a home to many animals, children will recognize that the trees around them are doing the same things. Finally the tree grows old and brittle and falls down, but she is still a home to animals of many kinds and she is surrounded by the trees that grew from her seeds. Yes, this can be seen as a story of death, but I think that many children will just see it as a story of trees. It will lead to discussions of the stages of trees they have seen, so it is a perfect addition to a unit or storytime on trees.

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May I Please Have a Cookie? by Jennifer E. Morris is a charming easy reader. Designed for the earliest of readers, the story is silly, fun, and one that small children everywhere can relate to. Alfie's mommy is baking cookies and Alfie desperately wants one. After demanding a cookie, his mother asks him to think of a better way to get a cookie. It is not until Alfie tries a number of crazy ideas that he remembers that saying please might help. With the brevity of the words, the pictures really carry the story. Alfie and his mom are friendly alligators with faces that show their every emotion. Recommend this to the earliest of readers and they will enjoy it as much as Alfie enjoys cookies.

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Kate McMullan has a great fun-filled website with information on her, her work, and school visits. She is the author of some of my favorite read-alouds: I Stink and No, No Jo! both illustrated by her husband, Jim McMullan.

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Mercy Watson to the Rescue by Kate DiCamillo, illustrated by Chris Van Dusen is a fantastic book. Right from the first page, I realized I had completely fallen for this early chapter book. Mercy Watson is a beloved pet pig, who dreams of buttered toast. Her owners even let her sleep in their bed if she needs to. But when the bed begins to fall through the floor, only Mercy can hop off and escape. Her owners assume she is trying to rescue them, but she is really searching for some toast. So how will her owners be saved? You'll have to read it to find out!

The design of the book is so lovely. From the buttery toast on the page numbers, to the perfect ratio of text and pictures, it will immediately draw readers into its colorful world. The story has exactly the right amount of tension and humor. This will be my new number one recommendation for kids looking to move from easy readers to chapter books. Wonderful.

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Slate has a very cool article: Who Is Jacqueline Wilson? - And should Americans read her?. Wilson is an incredible success in Britain, topping the bestseller list, shortlisted for many children's book awards, and immensely popular with her target demographic preteen and teenage girls. But in the U.S., she is not nearly as popular.

As for me, this article has inspired me to seek out a book by Wilson and give her a try. I'll just add it onto my ever-growing to-be-read list.

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Susan Campbell Bartoletti, author of picture books, fiction for middle graders, and nonfiction, has a website with information on her, her books, and author visits. Bartoletti is getting numerous starred reviews on her latest nonfiction work, Hitler Youth. Definitely one on my list that should be on everyone's.

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Sharon Creech has a vibrant website filled with photos, biographical information, her books, and a special section on using her work in a classroom. Creech also has a new book out, Replay, which is on my to-read list.

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The National Book Foundation has announced the finalists for the 2005 National Book Awards. The following are the finalists for Young People's Literature:

Jeanne Birdsall, The Penderwicks (Alfred A. Knopf)

Adele Griffin, Where I Want to Be (Putnam)

Chris Lynch, (Atheneum)