Apple.com offers this trailer for the movie based on the book Millions. It looks simply lovely.

Buffalo News – Reading in tandem is an article about an elementary school that is using fifth graders as reading role-models for K through 2nd graders who are having trouble learning to read. The 5th graders read aloud to the younger children, showing how much they like books. The program is brand new, so there is no data about how effective it is, but the idea sounds like a great one for both the older and younger kids.

The World of William Joyce
HarperCollins offers this site about picture book author William Joyce with his biography, coloring pages, and information on how he does his books.

The Magic School Bus continues to be popular in books, videos and CD-ROMs. This site offers games, science, and information on the authors.

Fun With Spot is the official site for Eric Hill, the author of the beloved Spot series. His site is filled with games and activities for small children that require Shockwave to play. They are simple and sweet just like the Spot books themselves.

Many blogs and new sources have been mentioning the new study that shows that there is more violence in traditional nursery rhymes than in early evening TV shows. I think that everyone who has read nursery rhymes and folk tales understands that they are violent, cautionary tales. And now experts are coming out to refute the results of the study: What’s next, labels warning of violence for the Brothers Grimm?
The researchers admit that they did the study rather tongue-in-cheek, but the way that the media has seized upton the results worries me. We are comparing literature to a visual medium. They are vastly different. In one the children are usually with an adult and having to create images with their imagination. In the other children are simply exposed to images that they may not be ready for. It also must be pointed out that they were looking at early evening TV, not the prime time of CSI, ER and others.

Florida Today article on Orange County banning unaccompanied adults from the children’s area, which could be the first policy of its type in the country. Usually we see policies that ban unaccompanied children from the adult sections of the library, but this is a move to protect children from potential predators. Adults without children are still allowed to enter the area and select books, but they are not welcome to sit and read in the area or loiter.
Because the policy does allow parents to still come in and choose books for their children, I think it is a great compromise between access and protection. I would expect more large libraries to make similar policies in the near future.

This site offers book lists, reviews, forthcoming books, and recent award winners in young adult literature. It also links to author sites and discussion lists.

Coming Soon! has a small post about the movie version of Roald Dahl’s Twits. It is to be directed by Mark Mylod and is produced by Shrek producer John Williams. But best of all, in my opinion, is that John Cleese co-wrote the script!