PIKA Canadian Children’s Literature Database
This database of Canadian children’s literature is the work of three organizations: The Canadian Children’s Book Centre, Communication-Jeunesse and the National Library of Canada. The database includes information on 35,000 Canadian children’s books, subject headings for fiction, and book summaries.

The True Story of Christmas by Anne Fine (0-385-90156-9)
I had heard online that this was a very funny book, and it certainly is! This will make a wonderful read-aloud for Christmastime. Don’t expect a book with saccharine images of a family get together, instead look for the chapter where all Dad says is “Sorry”, the oven door that won’t stay shut, horrible noises and flying dinner rolls.
Happy Holidays!

Mercedes Lackey Homepage
This is a great time to check out Lackey’s website, since she has several new books out right now and another one arriving in January. Teen readers enjoy Lackey, especially the Valdemar series. I just completed Exile’s Valor and really enjoyed it. But I enjoy Lackey’s writing and her obvious love of her characters and setting, that it is easy for me to return to Valdemar time and again. A great author to recommend to teens looking for adventure and magic in their novels.

Idea Box
This is a wonderful resource for people working with children. It provides ideas for activities, seasonal programs, games, songs, recipes, and crafts.

Paul Fleischman’s Official Website
Homepage for this author of books for children and teens with announcements of future books, articles, biography, excerpts and Q&A.

Redwall Abbey: The Official Redwall Web Site
This is the site for Brian Jacques’ Redwall series, offering information on the author, illustrators, links, puzzles, and news. According to the site, they receive almost 4 million hits a year!

keithgravesart.com
Keith Graves is an illustrator of one of our most popular Halloween books, Frank Was a Monster Who Wanted to Dance. The silly, gross illustrations appeal to most kids. He has a new book out now, Three Nasty Gnarlies, that sounds like it’ll be just as much fun.

G. Biran Karas
Home page for this illustrator of children’s picture books, including the new Ten Little Mummies written by Philip Yates.

Boston.com — New storybook reopens old wounds
Award-winning children’s book illustrator, Christopher Bing has illustrated a new version of Little Black Sambo using the text of the originial 1899 book. Of course, this new title has created a controversy, since “Sambo” is a racist term.
In 1996, Julius Lester created a wonderful version of this story called Sam and the Tigers. He captured the wonderful story while removing the racist terms.
I will have to take a look at the new Bing version, but have to wonder at his need to keep the original title and character name.