ThisisLondon
An Australian lecturer says that the Harry Potter books are “Prozac for children” because they show children how to overcome their demons.
Interesting, I think that many books do that. And even more importantly, they get depressed kids out of their own heads and thinking as another person, both echoing their own feelings and demonstrating that their are other ways of approaching and dealing with challenges.
Via Maud Newton: Blog.

Young genius exposes folly of test scores
A nice article on Andrew Clement’s new book The Report Card.
“And it’s refreshing to find a book for young readers that features kids who operate not out of selfishness or rage or despair. Nora is concerned about her friend, she does her best to avoid breaking rules, and she’s respectful of authority.”

DenverPost.com – BOOKS
This article is on new books for teens that push the envelope, but the writer misses the ones that are really getting the buzz going on being controversial. Nonetheless, I think that librarians need to be aware that even the ones that are not being described as controversial can make parents nervous.

SouthBendTribune.com: To be an author… be a reader
A great article about an author visit at a school, mostly great because of the following quote:
“Emily Loucks loves to read and is always on the lookout for new books at the Niles District Library.
Not only did the 8-year-old discover a new book, “Barnyard Song,” but she met the author Wednesday afternoon.
“I’ve never met an author before,” Emily said. “She looks like an ordinary person.””

The New York Times > ‘The Princess Knight’ and Other Children’s Books
Another collection of reviews of children’s books from The New York Times, this one contains reviews of books for kids ages 3 through preteens.

The ABCs of better reading
Beloved Jim Trelease is covered once again in the news. He takes on mandatory testing, speaks to the strength of exposing kids to words, and tries to make reading fun.
Personally, I can get behind his idea of keeping reading material at the table. Or better yet, just not clearing the table at all. 🙂

Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events
Official site for the upcoming movie.

Comic hero’s got legs
The interesting part of this article is not the announcement of two new graphic novels aimed at girls, but the statistics from the graphic novel industry.
“Sales of manga trade paperbacks have tripled within the last year.
Time magazine recently estimated manga sales will top $100 million this year, with comic books geared toward girls and women — called “shojo,” literally “young girl” in Japanese — expected to account for at least half.”

Noreascon Four Hugo and Retro Hugo Nominations
Oy! It was much tougher than I thought to find the new list of Hugo nominees, but here they are. Don’t bother going to the official Hugo site, it hasn’t been updated since 2001. The nominees for top novel are Paladin of Souls by Bujold, Humans by Robert Sawyer, Ilium by Dan Simmons, Singularity Sky by Charles Stross, and Blind Lake by Robert Charles Wilson.