Booktrusted

Booktrusted is a British site filled with information on children’s books, authors, illustrators, events, organizations, news, magazines, and much more.  There are resources for teachers, interviews with authors, and a recommended Book of the Month. 

YALSA Blog

YALSA (Young Adult Library Services Association) has a new blog that covers their activities, teen books, library service to teens, and being an advocate for your teen patrons.

Five Ancestors Movie

Yahoo!  has the news that Nickelodeon Movies is going to make movies from The Five Ancestors series, wirtten by Jeff Stone.  Stone has planned seven books in the series, and right now the movie deal is for two films. 

Learning Fun for Kids Online

Learning Fun for Kids Online is a great blog that collects sites that are both education and fun.  Perfect for home schoolers, afterschool as the site says, or for educators themselves. 

Rowling Has Written Non-Potter Book

Digital Spy says that JK Rowling has confirmed in an interview with Tatler Magazine that she has completed a non-Harry Potter book for children.
“It is what Rowling describes as a “political fairy story” about a monster and is aimed at children younger than those who read Harry Potter.”

KIDS @ Your Library

The Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC) has announced a new campaign to get school-aged children to use their public libraries:  KIDS! @ your library.  Hurrah!  One of my huge issues with many families’ use of libraries is that we see them as preschoolers, but once they hit school age they disappear.  Right at the age that they need easy readers, beginning chapter books, and great reading material to inspire them to continue learning and finding reading to be joyous.  This is a campaign I can really embrace.

I've Written a Children's Story, What Next?

BellaOnline has an article on what to do once you have finished writing your children’s book.  The recommendations are very sound.  It is certainly worth taking your time to re-edit your book, figure out which publishers may be most interested in your work, and carefully following their instructions to the letter, especially since such a small fraction of children’s book submissions actually get published. 

Wee Free Men Movie

ComingSoon.net says that Sam Raimi is to Direct The Wee Free Men, a movie based on Terry Pratchett’s young adult novel. Raimi is the director for the Spider-Man movies.

Babymouse

For kids at the Chicago Sun-Times has a brief article on the new graphic novel series, Babymouse by Jennifer L. Holm and Matthew Holm. Many of us are looking for good graphic novels for younger children, and this is a good one for elementary age girls.