The Baltimore Museum of Art: Education: Matisse for Kids
I love finding amazing sites that can be used with children. Matisse for Kids is one of those sites. Raoudi, Matisse’s pet schnauzer, leads kids through the paintings and kids earn props and items to use in creating their own Matisse artwork.

Lipsyte Novel Yanked from Library Shelves
This brief news blurb from SLJ says that the public library in Ansonia, CT has pulled One Fat Summer by Robert Lipsyte from their special summer reading section.
“The objection focuses on a paragraph describing the masturbation fantasy of a teenage boy. School officials asked the library to remove the book from shelves that include titles for students who will attend middle school in the coming school year. Janet Fitol, a children’s librarian at Ansonia, says that while all but one of the copies of the book are currently checked out, the remaining copy was pulled. The book will remain in circulation on the regular shelves.”

MNSUN – News
This is a fascinating article on kindergarten readiness of Minnesota children. Their study shows that a certain percentage of children are simply not ready for Kindergarten. These children are three times more likely to come from lower income homes. I think that this calls for children’s librarians to focus more on basic literacy in our storytimes and to reach out to do more programs with Headstart and other care settings.

Cherie Bennett
Home page for the popular YA author, Cherie Bennett. She has written one of my faves Life in the Fat Lane as well as a new novel, A Heart Divided.

ALA | ALA provides free access to K-12 Information Literacy Standards
ALA is providing free online access to the K-12 Information Literacy Standards for Student Learning. School librarians will find it easily accessible via pdf format.

The Hayao Miyazaki Web // Nausicaa.net
Cool fan site filled with news about this creator of films and manga like Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind and My Neighbor Totoro.

carolyn mackler
Official site for this author of YA novels, including the Printz Honor Book, The Earth, My Butt and Other Big Round Things. She has a new book out now, Vegan Virgin Valentine.

Middle Grades Book Club
A brand new livejournal that focuses on middle-grade readers and books.

I had never known that Jane Yolen has an online Journal. She writes about her writing and how her life ties in with her art.
Via ACHOCKABLOG.