Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast is a children’s book blog that reviews books, offers great insights and is a lot of fun.  Their post yesterday features a list of new picture book titles that I happily have added to be to-read list. 

I was just scanning through the list of upcoming Online Programming for All Libraries: Events and Programs and discovered that in mid to late September and early October, they will be featuring some programming for librarians interested in children’s lit.
Saturday, September 16th – Meet the Author: Kate DiCamillo
Thursday, September 21st – Allen Say’s Grandfather’s Journey will be discussed.
Monday, October 9th – Immigrant Kids by Russell Freedman will be discussed.
The programs are all offered online. You just need to download a quick plugin and you will be a participant. Very easy to do, plus it is often something you can earn continuing education for, if you need those hours like I do. OPAL offers other items of interest to children’s and school librarians, so make sure to scan the list for other programs as well.

Child_Lit, the email list, is having a discussion about children’s literature blogs. I shared a couple of the new-to-me blogs mentioned yesterday, and here is another: rindawriter’s Xanga Site. This blog has reviews of children’s books and lots of links of interest to children’s lit lovers.

News from England says that Young spy breaks the spell of boy wizard. This means that Anthony Horowitz’s massively popular Alex Rider series has toppled Harry Potter from the top of the book charts. Horowitz now has seven titles in the top 20 children’s bestsellers, something that Rowling can’t even hope to approach until she releases the final novel in the Harry Potter series.

Learning.now is a very cool blog on the PBS TeacherSource website.  The blog offers information on how new technology is affecting education.  Look here for posts on Web 2.0 technologies and websites and their impact on what educators are able to offer students. 

DPP Store offers eBooks and has a nice selection of free children’s books under the category: Kid’s eBooks.  Look for the year published as Out of Copyright and you will have found the classic kid’s lit.  Books in this category include some of my favorites like books by Frances H. Burnett that I read time and again as a child, Heidi by Johanna Spyri, Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm by Kate Douglas Wiggin, Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame, and the list goes on.  This is a great place to find classic books to load on computers or reading devices for kids to take on trips.  Even better, how about reading aloud in the car some of the books that touched you as a child, just the titles of these take me right back to reading on a blanket out in the tall grass behind our house.  Me and the grasshoppers and a great book separate from the larger world.

Curled Up with a Good Book is a website filled with reviews for children, teachers, librarians and parents.  The books reviewed range from picture books to chapter books to teen lit to activity books for teachers and parents.  I haven’t seen this nice a selection of parenting and activity book reviews on any other site.  Very nicely done.

One of my favorite parts of a long drive to work is listening to Morning Edition. This morning they featured MTV at 25: From Upstart to Parent Network which takes a look at the current state of MTV and at why they show fewer videos on the parent network now. Personally, I had despaired that they had lost the grandeur they had in the 80s, but I had not taken into account that teens are now accessing them more online for music than on the air. Interesting listening for anyone working with teens.

I am always on the lookout for great programming ideas. You know, the ones I may not be able to do exactly the same, but that get me thinking in a new direction. The Dublin Library just offered a program that teaches kids to create own comics. Very cool, timely and fun! I love one of the quotes:
“With schools lacking resources to offer such programs, librarians recognize they can give an opportunity for kids and address these interests right here and now.”
So true! And what other programs could libraries be offering to fill gapes. Music? Science? Math? They all tie beautifully into reading and writing. Let’s create a new generation of Renaissance children inspired by their libraries.