Ida B. by Katherine Hannigan (0-06-073024-2)
Sigh. This is one of my favorite books of the year so far. It is the sort of book that teachers can read to their classes, parents can read to their children, and everyone can rejoice in.
Ida B. is a girl who speaks to trees and rivers. She is homeschooled and loves it. But then her mother gets sick and she is forced to return to public school and some of the land that her precious apple-tree friends are on is sold. The trees on that land are torn up and destroyed. Ida B. feels her entire life has been torn up and her heart hardens.
Ida B. herself is a wonderful character who captures a certain sort of person who is more at home by themselves than with others. She is a nature-girl through and through, and each and every one of us can see ourselves in her.
This amazing book should be given to teachers to share, or to read for themselves. It should be handed to kids who read above grade level, because there is nothing objectionable in it. It should be given to parents who want a book to read aloud to kids of a wide range of ages. It is a book to be shared.

Authors & Illustrators for Children
Over 300 authors and illustrators of children’s books have lent their names to a campaign for John Kerry with posters that list their names and say “We create children’s books because we care about children. That’s why we’re voting for John Kerry.”

DesMoinesRegister
Meredith publishing (publisher of the Better Homes and Gardens books among others) has signed a deal with Marvel to create books for children featuring Marvel characters such as Spider-Man.

The Carnegie Pulse: Art & Culture > The next JK Rowling
Carnegie Mellon sophomore, Colin Liotta, is being hailed as the next JK Rowling with his new series Boy Werewolf. The first book in the children’s fantasy series is Curse of the Golden Statue.
Via ACHOCKABLOG.

Entertainment – canada.com network
Canada.com has this article that contains an AP interview with author Jamie Lee Curtis about her writing and her latest book.
The following is my fave from the article:
AP: Was becoming an author a conscious career change?
Curtis: I sat down and wrote something that I didn’t know was a book until I finished it. As soon as I finished it I knew it was a book because it made me cry. I thought ‘Wow!’ . . . I had no delusions or illusions that I was an author – I’m a well-educated uneducated person or an uneducated well-educated person, one of the two. And, it was not my intention when I started this 12 years ago that this was a career path. It was not an attempt for attention, it was not an attempt for money, it was the first pure expression that I’ve ever been able to tap into.

Wisconsin Kids Vote
State-based project that offers a curriculum for classrooms to have a mock election. Sponsored by League of Women Voters, Wisconsin Public Television, DPI, and others.

In graphic detail
This article from the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review talks about the fact that comics are finally being considered as more than just superheroes in tights.

TheStar.com – Farting dog plots world domination
The phenomenon of Walter the Farting Dog has led to a potential movie and books with rude noises from a built-in sound chip.
Via places for writers.

Graphic Novels Anime Comic Books
About Children’s Books offers this collection of links and articles about graphic novels, comics and manga. Very nice!