Eileen Christelow
Official website for this author illustrator who just released the new book VOTE! in September. The site reflects her illustrating style completely. Lovely job!

Edgy YA Fiction
The bibliography from a presentation done at the Wisconsin Library Association’s Annual Meeting last month in Milwaukee. The presenters are from the revered CCBC in Madison.

The art of darkness is an article in the English Telegraph that is all about Phillip Pullman and his writing. Librarians and teachers will be interested in the following part of his work history:
“After 18 months he moved to a more sedate posting as a librarian at Charing Cross library. Then he trained as a teacher. For the next 12 years he worked in two middle schools in Oxford, teaching English to children between nine and 13. Pullman describes his teaching as ‘variable’ but, according to former pupils, he was exceptional and exciting. Greta Stoddart, the poet, was taught by him at Bishop Kirk Middle School: ‘He had an extraordinary energy. And he didn’t need books. He would come in and just launch into some story. He had this great mane of long, wavy hair that he would scrape back with his long fingernails – he kept them long to play the guitar. And he had that very direct stare that stays just a little longer than you’d expect. All of us girls were a bit in love with him.’ “

The Northpole
A child-friendly site with a traditional feel, containing stories, a chance to write to Santa, recipes, games, and activities.

Kids Domain Thanksgiving
A great holiday site for kids and parents. It has ecards, crafts, recipes, online games, downloads, clip art and more.

Seek by Paul Fleischman (0-8072-0821-3)
Having listened to this on tape, I can’t imagine reading it. Enveloped immediately by the sounds of the Louisiana swamp, I was captivated by the full cast recording. The story is that of Rob, a senior in high school, assigned to write his autobiography which he does in sound clips. Clips from his radio shows, his father’s radio program, and the voices of his family and friends. It all combines to form the story of a boy searching for his absent father.
I enjoyed the fact that Rob is not what is considered a typical teen. He is an intellectual who reads classic literature, listens to opera, and loves the radio. I would recommend the audio for families traveling with older elementary and even teen boys in the car. The sounds will stay with you long after the audiobook is finished.

From the BBC comes the article Author Haddon wins teenage prize.
Having just won the Guardian Children’s Book Prize in England, Haddon wins the new teen book prize as well for The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.

Ann Cameron
Official site for this author of the new release Colibri and some of my favorite readalouds for young elementary kids: the Stories Julian Tells series.

Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants by Ann Brashares
I listened to this one on audio in the car, sometimes driving with tears running down my face.
I had thought that I had this one pegged, a group of girls share a pair of pants for the summer. They serve to tie the friendship and the story together. Fine.
But then I got caught up in the writing which is beautiful. The imagery is inventive and revealing, making the whole story sing, especially in audio format.
And the language led me straight into caring vastly for these different girls, so varied and yet so understandable. The story gives a glimpse into a single summer in their lives that demonstrates that they are human, all make mistakes, and all survive to fix them.
I know that there is a sequel and it will go straight onto my list to be read. This book is for teen girls. Any type of teen girl will find themselves somewhere on these pages.