Big A little a is another of the good children’s lit blogs out there. Full of great opinions on children’s books, add this one to your feedreader.
Month: April 2005
Phillip Hoose Interview
NPR has an interview with Phillip Hoose, author of The Race to Save the Lord God Bird about the rediscovery of the ivory-billed woodpecker.
Orange Splot
Orange Splot is a blog done by a librarian in Bartlesville, Oklahoma. She posts on children’s book subjects.
Jane Addams Peace Awards
The 2005 Jane Addams Peace Awards have been announced. “Books chosen for the Awards effectively address themes or topics that promote peace, justice, world community, and/or equality of the sexes and all races. The books must also meet conventional standards of literary and artistic excellence.”
The winners are:
Younger Children: Selavi, That is Life: A Haitian Story of Hope by Youme Landowne.
Older Children: With Courage and Cloth: Winning the Fight for a Woman’s Right to Vote by Ann Bausum.
Prom
Prom by Laurie Halse Anderson (0-670-05974-9) is a book that honors “normal” kids. Kids who don’t excel at school or sports, who don’t drive sports cars and are not the most popular kid in class. Ashley is not interested in going to prom with her boyfriend. They have better things to do, like planning on getting an apartment together after she graduates from high school. But then a math teacher steals the prom money and Ashley is drawn into helping her best friend scrape together a prom with no funds. As Ashley starts to participate, she begins to see that there is life beyond her own plans and that she is worthy of having larger dreams.
It is Ashley’s voice that carries this book. Her very normal teen activities, her lack of caring, her lack of self esteem all combine to create a vivid character who everyone can relate to. Actually, it is striking after reading this book how few normal teens serve as the protagonist in books for girls. This is a wonderful choice for girls and is far more than a fluffy book about prom, looking into the life of a girl that we can all relate to.
Meet the Author
Meet the Author is a site that offers video clips of authors introducing their books. Right now the site has over 400 clips with additions being made each day. The collection can be browsed by author, title, and date of entry. One can specify just children’s titles and you will find authors that include Anthony Browne, Eoin Colfer, Philip Pullman, Kevin Crossley-Holland, and Terry Pratchett.
Time Soldiers
Detroit Free Press offers the article: ‘Time Soldiers’ root out young readers that covers the new Time Soldiers series from Big Guy Books and Stan Lee. The books feature glossy pages and graphics created to appeal to kids of the video game, movie and TV generation. They are designed to get reluctant male readers reading. If you visit the Big Guy Books site, you will find that they are offering a free set of Time Soldier books to libraries. The offer is only good through April 29th.
Via Reading Today Daily.
Tiny Librarian
tinylittlelibrarian is a librarian’s blog that often has postings on children’s lit. It also has a great blogroll covering blogging librarians, book blogs and children’s lit blogs.
Create/Relate
Create/Relate is a blog from Anastasia Suen, author of over sixty books for children. Her blog offers lots of information on the children’s book business, recommended articles, links to other children’s book blogs, and much more.
Waking Brain Cells 