National Theatre: His Dark Materials
Information and images from this new production based on Philip Pullman’s books.

Mars Exploration: Fun Zone!
NASA presents this site on the Mars Rover with online games, activities, and educational information.

ALA | American Library Association Announces Award Winners
Drum roll, please!
Newbery to Kate DiCamillo for The Tale of Despereaux
Caldecott to Mordicai Gerstein for The Man Who Walked Between the Towers
Coretta Scott King to Angela Johnson for The First Part Last and to Ashley Bryan for Beautiful Blackbird
Printz to Angela Johnson for The First Part Last
Vist the ALA site to see the Honor Books in each category!

New Photo of Hanks from The Polar Express
This new image from the upcoming movie starring Tom Hanks and directed and co-written by Robert Zemeckis shows the incredible motion-capture technology they are using to recreate the beloved picture book. To see more, visit the official site.

The Salt Lake Tribune — Utah couple receive acclaim with flying colors for children’s books
Mark Buehner has illustrated fourteen children’s books, six of which have been written by his wife Caralyn. He is most famous for his first book, The Adventures of Taxi Dog. His illustrations are filled with hidden elements and lots of character.
This article on him and his wife captures the joy they have found in working on children’s books.

Yahoo! News – Lego Fires Two Executives, Mulls Layoffs
Lego will stop making the Mindstorms series of toys that many schools use to participate in regional and state competitions for robot building. I imagine that this will end those competitions, which is too bad for our scientifically-gifted kids.
Time to bid on some extra sets on EBay!

dict.html
It’s a question we get asked all the time, especially for authors like Jon Scieszka. Now there is a webpage to answer that, so that when you are presenting a program, a booktalk, a book discussion, you can actually feel free to mention the author by name! Oh, and Scieszka is SHESS-ka (rhymes with Fresca). Who’d have thunk?

Telegraph | News | Joan Aiken
Joan Aiken has died at age 79. I absolutely adored The Wolves of Willoughby Chase when I was a kid and read it at least five times, maybe many more. Her creepy settings and brave children were captivating.

Diane Stanley – Books for Children
Homepage for this author of nonfiction for children with sections on her books, her life and school visits.