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48 Hour Book Challenge

| Tasha

MotherReader has announced the dates for the 4th Annual 48-Hour Book Challenge.  The selected weekend is June 5-7, 2009.  To participate, you select 48 hours in that weekend to read books.  There are some small rules about the books you can read, just to keep things on the same level. 

There are winners for most hours committed, most books read, and an honor list for those who read 20 hours or more. 

So how many hours can you read in 48 hours?  And how many reviews will you post?  There will be prizes to win!

Bloggers Extraordinaire

| Tasha

Booklights is a new blog from three incredible bloggers: Jen Robinson, Pam Coughlan (Mother Reader), and Susan Kusel (Wizard’s Wireless).  They have partnered with PBS Parents to create a blog that will “inspire a love of reading in your child.”  Huzzah! 

This is definitely a blog to keep an eye on and already has some great posts worth reading.  I love that they introduced themselves with lists of their favorite picture books.  Great stuff!

Books are Key

| Tasha

Professor Maria Nikolajeva gave a lecture at Cambridge University about the importance of children’s books.  She is featured in two online articles that pull from that speech. 

One Press Association article focuses on books being important for child development. 

The creative employment of language in children’s books give the child the power of expression…  By challenging the arbitrary rules of language, especially written language, children learnt to be critically thinking individuals.

I’d take that one step further and say that books also lead to connections between diverse people and a level of understanding simply from seeing the world through someone else’s eyes.

A Telegraph article focuses on the professor’s appreciation of puns, nonsense and made-up words. 

A lot of people presume that writing children’s literature is relatively simple, but in fact it demands great sophistication.

She uses many books to make her case, including Winnie-the-Pooh and its Heffalumps, Harry Potter and the magical language, Dr. Seuss, and Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.

Classic Books Chosen by Children’s Laureates

| Tasha

Those of us who enjoy classic children’s lit will cheer when we see the list put together by the 5 British Children’s Laureates.  Quentin Blake, Anne Fine, Michael Morpurgo, Jacqueline Wilson and Michael Rosen were asked to select seven great works of children’s literature.

Great reads are timeless as this list shows.  Just reading the list brings back flashes of memories.  Lovely.

Here is the list that happily contains two of my all-time favorite reads: A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett and The Wolves of Willoughby Chase by Joan Aiken.  I have read both at least 20 times.

The ones I have read are bolded (not as many as I would like):

Chosen by Quentin Blake:

1. Little Tim and the Brave Sea Captain by Edward Ardizzone (published 1936)
2. Queenie the Bantam by Bob Graham (1997)
3. The Box of Delights by John Masefield (1935)
4. Rose Blanche by Ian McEwan and Roberto Innocenti (1985)
5. Five Children and It by E. Nesbit (1902)
6. Snow White by Josephine Poole (1991)
7. Stuart Little by E.B. White (1945)

Chosen by Anne Fine:

8. The Wolves of Willoughby Chase by Joan Aiken (1963)
9. Absolute Zero by Helen Cresswell (1978)
10. Just William by Richmal Crompton (1922)
11. Journey to the River Sea by Iva Ibbotson (2001)
12. Lavender’s Blue by Kathleen Lines (1954)
13. A Child’s Garden of Verses by Robert Louis Stevenson (1885)
14. Sword in the Stone by T.H. White (1938)

Chosen by Michael Morpurgo:

15. Five Go to Smuggler’s Top by Enid Blyton (1945)
16. Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel by Virginia Lee Burton (1939)
17. Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens (1838)
18. Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling (1902)
19. A Book of Nonsense by Edward Lear (1846)
20. Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson (1883)
21. The Happy Prince by Oscar Wilde (1888)

Chosen by Jacqueline Wilson:

22. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott (1868-9)
23. A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett (1905)
24. What Katy Did by Susan Coolidge (1872)
25. The Family From One End Street by Eve Garnett (1937)
26. The Railway Children by E. Nesbit (1906)
27. Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfeild (1936)
28. Mary Poppins by P.L. Travers (1934)

Chosen by Michael Rosen:

29. Clown by Quentin Blake (1995)
30. The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank (1947)
31. Emil and the Detectives by Erich Kästner (1928)
32. Not Now, Bernard by David McKee (1980)
33. Fairy Tales by Terry Jones (1981)
34. Mr Gum and the Dancing Bear by Andy Stanton (2008)
35. Daz 4 Zoe by Robert Swindells (1990)

New Author Blog

| Tasha

Teaching Authors  is contributed to by six children’s book authors who are all working teachers.  They are April Halprin Wayland, Carmela Martino, Esther Hershenhorn, Jeanne Marie Grunwell Ford, JoAnn Early Macken and Mary Ann Rodman.  Whew! 

They have a planned schedule of blogging, which I’m sure is very important for group blogs.  I look forward to hearing their unique perspective on using children’s literature in classrooms and being children’s book authors. 

This is definitely a new blog to keep an eager eye on!

Digging for Jewels

| Tasha

The incredible Sheila Ruth of Wands and Worlds has posted a thought-provoking piece on the influence of best sellers and marketing on what we read, what gets reviewed and what gets our attention. 

As I say in my comment on her post, the incredible CCBC Choices list is a great place to go and find some of the hidden gems in literature for children and teens.  They emphasize great writing and multiculturalism.  And to get a feel for what Wisconsin librarians get to see each year, check out their webinar presentations!  They know how to really get you fired up about books you have never heard of.

I do think that as bloggers we are in the perfect place to highlight books that are hidden gems.  I’m wondering if we could do a special event each month where we all provide a great find to gain it attention?  A Have You Heard Of… kind of deal.

Personally, I get caught up in the hype of books myself, especially the PR for teen novels.  Boy do they know how to sell a book to a librarian!  So after reading Sheila’s post, I look forward to digging through some of the lesser-known titles waiting in my stacks and seeing what I find. 

What about you?  Are you willing to take a risk and dig for jewels too?

National Poetry Month – Blog Style

| Tasha

Two must-read blogs are doing great things to celebrate April as National Poetry Month. 

GottaBook will be posting a previously unpublished poem each day of the month of April.  The poets participating are a who’s who list of children’s poets.  Amazing!  You can also follow the action on Twitter.

The Miss Rumphius Effect will be interviewing poets each day in April.  Her list too is amazing! 

What a lovely way to spend the month of April, basking in new poems and great poets every day.

Glogster

| Tasha

I am loving Glogster!  A poster-building website where you can use video, images, fonts and more to express yourself.  Create your own poster for a band, library event, or for a new book coming out.  Twilight would be awesome!  I can see using these for displays too.

Another option is to do a teen program and offer them the ability to print their posters for free. 

CCBC Goes Green

| Tasha

The Cooperative Children’s Book Center has an incredible bibliography of books on earth and the environment for children and teens.  The books are broken into three categories:

In My World: Loving the Earth

What Happened Here? Environmental Challenges and Change

Taking Action: Planet Pioneers

The categories have items for many different ages with each book given a handy age range to eliminate guess work.  Nicely, each category is broken into fiction and nonfiction.  Even better, the books are from the CCBC Choices lists which means that they are all worth looking at.