Guardian Unlimited Books — Book deal for spare-time writer
A Belfast mom has won The Wow Factor, a writing competition lookin gto find the next JK Rowling. Her book, The Forbidden Room, will be released in fall of 2006 in the UK.
Author: Tasha
Narnia read-A-Likes
YALSA has created a great list of Narnia Read-A-Likes for teens and tweens. I see so many of my favorite fantasy novels, that this is a wonderful list to share with fantasy lovers in general.
Movie Ratings Change Over Time
NPR : Hollywood Ratings Getting Looser is an important piece on the changes in Hollywood ratings and the way that ratings are creeping over the last few years so that what would have been PG-13 are now PG. Very important for not just parents but for professionals working with children to understand.
Robert Sabuda
Wausau Daily Herald – Kids’ book illustrator creates books that pop is an article on Robert Sabuda, one of the great artists of pop-up books. My favorite part of the article is the end where he says:
“Parents are busy. They want time with their kids to be well spent. … There’s greater attention to children’s books now as a backlash to the technology in kids’ lives. Parents feel the need to give an alternative to all the media saturation.”
Pew Study on Teens Online
Pew Internet & American Life Project did a study on Teen Content Creators and Consumers that speaks to the patterns that teens are showing in creating online content and using online services. This is a great study to glance at even if you don’t have a lot of time. The format makes it very browsable, allowing you to read only the sections you are most interested in. Important information for those of us who work with teens, especially those who work with teens and technology.
Brad's Bookmarks
Brad’s Bookmarks is a blog that offers very brief reviews of books and movies. Each review is follwed by a letter grade. The movies range across all sorts of genres, but the books are primarily teen and children’s titles.
Graphic Novel Article
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has this article: Graphic novels catch eyes and minds of students which contains the following section:
“Max Yela, head of special collections at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee libraries, said he’d like to start collecting more graphic novels. On Wednesday, the school is slated to host a talk by graphic novelist Art Spiegelman, who won a Special Citation for Letters from the Pulitzer Board in 1992 for his book “Maus” that depicted Jews as mice and Nazis as cats.
Yela said his collection documents changes in books and communications, particularly since the advent of computers. Graphic novels, he said, are a big part of that.
“I think it’s inevitable in many ways that graphic literacy will have a greater weight,” he said. “Do you let go of the traditional ways of educating students, in terms of text-literacy? No. But I do think teachers will have to come to grips with the fact that graphic-based communication is going to become more prevalent.””
Teen Book Lovers
Teen Book Lovers is a LiveJournal community that reads and discusses teen literature. Click on user info to learn more about their rules and how they select their book of the month.
Anime and Manga
This is a handy list for librarians to have: Titles available both as anime and manga in the United States. It is nice because the titles of the anime and manga often differ, so someone not familiar with the films and books may not even realize that they are the same story and characters.
