AS IF! Authors Support Intellectual Freedom is a blog of authors of young adult books who document challenges to intellectual freedom for teens. The list of authors involved is impressive with Brent Hartinger, Holly Black, Chris Crutcher, Jeanne DuPrau, and too many more to list.

ReadWriteThink is a site from the International Reading Association and the National Council of Teachers of English. It offers resources for teachers and students that will aid in reading and language arts education. Find lessons, standards, online resources, and materials for students.

BookPALS | Storyline has Screen Actors Guild Foundation members reading children’s books aloud online via streaming video. Books include The Polar Express read by Lou Diamond Phillips, Brave Irene read by Al Gore, and WIlfrid Gordon McDonald Patridge read by Bradley Whitford.

If you want to see an incredible public library site for children, take a look at The Early Elementary Library from the Public Library of Charlotee and Mecklenburg County. It has interactive features, a separate section for pre-schoolers, guides to children’s literature, recommended books, and much more all done with a sense of humor, great style, and warm spirit.

Mad About Manga reports the interesting news that several American newspapers are going to start including manga in their Sunday funnies to try to attract more young readers. Participating papers include the LA Times, Denver Post, Vancouver Sun, and Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

Frontline has done another incredible program, this time looking inside the teenage brain. It is a program that those of us working with teens should watch, and best of all the Frontline programs are available online in their entirety.

Harper Collins has created a controversy by editing the photograph of Clement Hurd, author of Goodnight Moon in the new edition. The editing removed the cigarette from Hurd’s hand. Goodnight Reality is a site where you can vote about whether you approve of the change or not. Personally, I don’t see any reason to remove a cigarette from the hand of an author. How does removing a cigarette help children? I think we need to protect children, yes, but this is not how it should be done. Sanitizing the world doesn’t help our children understand the world they live in nor does it make them any more safe.

Finding Wonderland: The WritingYA Weblog is a blog all about writing for teens. They cover news, recommend links, and offer advice.

A very nice service from Simon & Schuster is their collection of Simonsays.com >State Reading Lists. You can search by specific grades, and authors & illustrators.