J.K.Rowling Official Site
Rowling unveils a brand new website with very slick graphics. Very cool.

City Pages: Between Planets
A group interview with Minneapolis’ top female science fiction and fantasy writers, including Patricia Wrede who writes books for teens.

Parents Aware
Sigh. This site is one designed to warn people away from books that they consider “bad” for children and teens. Obviously from the lists they have, the teen books are the ones that really alarm them. Sadly, books are on the list solely for having gay characters or covering topics like self-mutilation.
Truly I think that there is a place for lists like this. They are not trying to remove books from libraries, but guide parents to books that fit their values. I have no problem with that. But then, provide a really complete and wonderful list of recommended titles. They only have 9 recommended titles for teens, and of those, I have many of them shelved in the children’s section.

reviewjournal.com — Living: Children benefit from an early start with books
Nice article on the importance of summer reading for children. They even have quotes recommending going to the library to get a large variety of books for kids to choose from.

NPR : ‘Shadowmancer’ Touted as ‘Hotter than Potter’
Listen to the audio from NPR (you can listen using Windows Media Player or Real Audio) of an interview with G. P. Taylor, author of Shadowmancer. Added to the interview is a critic’s take on the book.

Nina Crews
Official site for this author of picture books, including the new Neighborhood Mother Goose.

2004 Boston Globe-Horn Book Awards
And the winners are:
For Picture Book: The Man Who Walked Between the Towers by Mordicai Gerstein
For Fiction: The Fire-Eaters by David Almond
For Non-Fiction: An American Plague by Jim Murphy
The link above will also lead you to the list of honor books which include one of my favorite picture books of the last year, Snow Music, a perfect read-aloud here in Wisconsin.

Joel writing children’s books
Well, now Billy Joel is getting into the business of writing children’s books. It is interesting to see that his books will be based on his songs, with the first one being released in September.

ALA | Professsional Development Center
YALSA has released its new competencies for people serving young adults. The ten core values now reflected in the competencies are:
Developmental needs
Youth development
Youth advocacy
Youth participation
Collaboration
Information literacy
Adolescent literacy
Learning and achievement
Equity of access and intellectual freedom
Bravo! I especially appreciate the core values, since they are a great way to communicate with library boards the changing role of libraries with regard to teens.