Baby book wins children’s award is a BBC article about the Red House Children’s Book Award being awarded to Baby Brains by Simon James. The title of the article is a little misleading because it is a book about a baby rather than for babies, and I don’t like the caption about it being a book about “pushy parents.” I love Baby Brains and so have the kids I have shared it with. I am not surprised that it won an award voted on by children.
Month: June 2005
Booktrust Shortlist
The Booktrust Teenage Prize Shortlist has been announced. The UK prize recognizes the best in contemporary teen fiction.
Here is the shortlist:
Sugar Rush by Julie Burchill
Siberia by Ann Halam
Come Clean by Terri Paddock
The Whisper by Bali Rai
How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff
Century by Sarah Singleton
The Unrivalled Spangles by Karen Wallace
Howl's Moving Castle on NPR
NPR covers Hayao Miyazaki’s new anime film based on Diana Wynne Jones’ book with Miyazaki’s Magic on Display in ‘Moving Castle’. Amazing how evocative radio can be when describing film.
No Labeling of Teen Books
American Libraries reports the good news that the New York Board Rejects Labeling for Explicit YA Book. The Guilderland Public Library Board had been considering labeling all of their teen books that have sexually explicit passages with bright orange PG stickers. Luckily, the community got involved and ensured that there would be no labeling. Hurrah!
Magyk
I have just completed the delightful book, Magyk by Angie Sage (0-06-057732-0) which is the first book in the Septimus Heap series. The book is filled with so many vivid characters, lots of action, and surprises galore. It is the story of the Heap family whose tiny infant was stolen out of his mother’s arms. How that infant is found again is a large part of the story. It is also a story of an infant princess who is given to the Heaps to raise on the same night that their child is taken. It is a story of royalty, magic, power, darkness and light. It is complex and a very fun ride.
The sheer number of pages in the book and the number of characters that the reader meets make this appropriate for good readers who enjoy fantasy books. From strange creatures like Magogs and a boggart to amazing magicians like Marcia and Zelda, the book is filled with wonders. I can’t wait for the second in the series to see what happens next, and I would suspect that young readers will feel the same way.
TIME Covers Graphic News
I had no idea that TIME Magazine offers coverage of graphic novels! Andrew Arnold has a biweekly column covering them. And they just ran an article on 5 Fantastic Graphic Novels. Very cool!
Perfect Tens
VOYA’s Perfect Tens are the 2004 books that received a rating of 5Q for literary quality and 5P for popularity. So these are the best of the best for both reading pleasure and writing quality together in a single book.
Sendak Article
USATODAY – For Sendak, ‘cute’ doesn’t quite cut it is a very personal interview with Maurice Sendak about his new version of an old book by Ruth Krauss, Bears. This new book features the still naughty Max from Where the Wild Things Are, which is still one of my favorite read alouds.
Preschoolers Online
eSchool News online reports on the amazing number of preschoolers who are going online. 23% of three, four and five year olds have been online with 32% of kindergarteners having used the Net. Whoa!
Then I realized that my four year old has been online. He loves the NickJr website where he can play simple games with Blue and Dora. We also find preschool math games that he can play, because he is obsessed with numbers and math. So I do contribute to those incredible percentages.
Waking Brain Cells 