Orlando will be home to a new theme park based on the Harry Potter books! Universal Studios expects to open the park in 2009. There is just something magical about being able to experience Hogwarts and Rowling’s world. I probably should feel more cynical about this. I know it is sure to be expensive and filled with cheap but expensive toys that no child can live without. But still, I would love to see Hogwarts…
FairyTalesCollection.com is a site that offers biographical information on the authors of fairy tales as well as featured stories from their writing. I adored fairy tales as a child, which a strong preference for the Grimm brothers rather than Hans Christian Andersen. Unfortunately, the Grimm section is still under construction, but hopefully the gore of the Grimm stories will soon fill the pages. And why is Mark Twain listed? I never considered him an author of fairy tales. Is my Twain reading too limited?
Associated Press has an article about Harry Potter fan sites. I enjoy the fact that the sites were started by teens who have continued to maintain and improve them over the years. Even better is the change in the approach that Warner Brothers is taking. Where originally they tried to shut down fan sites, they now invite the webmasters to premieres and more, knowing how many fans they reach.
The following sites are featured in the article:
Enter the gates of Bembo and you will find a very cool alphabet website. Run your mouse over a letter and it makes the noise of the animal that you will see when you click on the letter. Then the name of the animal is displayed and the word becomes the animal itself, built out of the letters in its name. Lovely stuff! And what a nice place for preschoolers and kindergarteners to spend some time.
You will need to have Shockwave installed to view the site.
Kirkus has a pdf version of its Top Picks for Reading Groups available online. The top picks include ones for teen reading groups towards the end. I have only read two of their recommendations: Ida B and Loud Silence of Francine Green. Good books, but I’m not sure they would have been my top picks for discussions.
CNet has an interesting article about the possibility of schools using video games in classroom instruction. I hate the title of the piece, “More Video Games, Fewer Books at Schools?” because I see it pitting one form of communication against another. While I will always side with the power of books for education, I wouldn’t want to blindly and blithely assume that video games could not be used to reach children who shun books. This is certainly something that we as librarians as well as educators need to keep our eye on. Perhaps this is a way for more truly educational games to be created, especially for older children that we could then offer at public libraries? Sounds exciting to me!
Destiny’s Book Reviews is a book review site written by a ten year old! She reads the type of books that kids take out of the library by the armload, rather than the more literary works that the rest of us are discussing. She has a refreshing voice, a great writing style, and her blog is a joy. Nice to know that there are kids like Destiny out there reading, loving and sharing books.
I love, love, love hearing about libraries that are successfully reaching teens. Tween, teen girls find literary haven tells about the Forest Park Library’s program for tween girls. Obviously it is a success due to the skill and devotion of Emma Peterson:
“She’s always happy and brings fun things for us to do,” Martha said.
Exactly! She’s not frowning and waiting for trouble. She’s happy, energetic and thrilled to be working with teens. Every library needs an Emma!
VOYA has a list of the Top Shelf Fiction for Middle School Readers. The criteria for inclusion on the list were that the book be of particular interest to 11 to 13 year olds or kids in grades 6-8 and that it be published between October 2005 and September 2006.
I must say that I haven’t read a lot of the titles, but those I have I completely agree are top of the line books. My personal favorites are Rash by Pete Hautman, Black Duck by Janet Taylor Lisle, Dairy Queen by Catherine Gilbert Murdock, and Skin by Adrienne Maria Vrettos.
I have happily added the others onto my future reads list and will share the list with my newly tween niece who will love it.
Waking Brain Cells 