Reviewers Checklist is an amazing resource for information on new books for children and teens. You can browse the listings by genre/subject or choose to search by keyword, title, author, illustrator, publisher, ISBN or series. Your search can be limited by publication date, age range, or grade range.
Month: June 2005
Permanent Rose
Permanent Rose by Hilary McKay (1-4169-0372-0) is a triumphant return to the Casson family and their bustling, rambling home. This book focuses on nine-year-old Rose, who is desperately waiting for news from Tom, an American boy who they had befriended in the a previous book. But as always, it still features Cassie, Saffy, and Indigo.
Reading a Casson family book is almost like returning home. Though the reader does not know what surprises may be ahead of them, it is immediately comfortable simply to be back with the family.
Recommend the entire series to children who enjoy books set in England and realistic books about children their age. The humor and whimsy of the series will draw them in and they will race through the series to see what happens next to this unique and amazing family.
Returning from ALA
OK, so Internet access didn’t really work out for me at ALA. Our hotel offered wireless but for a daily fee, and not per room, but per computer. Sigh.
But I have returned with a nice stack of ARCs, piles of gorgeous catalogs, and great ideas for children’s programming and collections. I will get back to posting tomorrow, probably with lots of links to more children’s book publishers. 🙂
My two boys loved the exhibits, especially the flashy magnets that so many people were handing out. Our trunk was filled with all the “loot” as my 8-year-old calls it.
ALA
I am off to ALA for the next few days. Today my family is hitting Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry to see their exhibit on video game history as well as all their other way cool exhibits. Then the main conference starts tomorrow. I don’t think I will be able to get to many children’s programs, but I will be on the lookout for cool things for children and teens in the exhibits. I am blogging for the PLA Blog, so please check me out there, if I don’t have time to blog here.
Please, if you are going to be at ALA too and you see me around, stop and chat! Any time spent talking about children and books is great by me!
Free Kids Music
Free Kids Music is a site that offers exactly that, free downloadable music for children. Browse the music by artist or if you are a children’s musician, upload some of your own original songs to share. Use this site for new songs to play at story time that fit your theme, or to create a CD that patrons can check out. Artists range from the well-known to the obscure.
Summer Reading on NPR
NPR : A Cure for Kids’ Summer Reading Doldrums is a piece on the troubles with mandatory summer reading lists. A delightful look at the issue accompanied with a selection of good summer reads that won’t be on mandatory lists.
Problems with Problem Novels
The problem with “problem” young-adult fiction. By Ann Hulbert has been making the rounds on children’s lit discussion lists. Hulbert wants to see a return to classics in high school classrooms rather than problem novels. My response is why can’t we do both? They appeal to different kids, different readers, different learning styles. Can’t classes offer both? Perhaps creating a kinship between both types of book that strengthen the ties between the kids of today and classic literature?
Virtual YA Index
Virtual YA Index is a directory of public libraries that offer web pages for teens. The number of sites included is amazing, and make sure that if you have a young adult site at your library that you are listed too!
Don't Just Throw Open Your Doors
Library Dust, a blog by Michael McGrorty, has a wonderful post: Moving Libraries. It speaks to a libraries need for outreach rather than “merely throwing open its doors every morning to the world.” With concrete examples, Michael is very persuasive about the need for more outreach and outreach to those who have the greatest need for our services, including children.
Waking Brain Cells 