The Seattle Post-Intelligencer has a nice piece on the new history of the Little Golden Books. I look forward to getting my hands on a copy to see it for myself.
Personally, my favorite wasn’t The Poky Little Puppy. I loved every book done by Eloise Wilkin as a child and even now can find myself sighing happily over the illustrations. Her pictures are the icon of my childhood. How about you? Got any undying love for a Golden Book?
Anne of Green Gables is celebrating 100 years! They have a great website filled with details about the celebration, vacationing in Prince Edward Island, educational resources, and much more.
With regret, I must admit that I love the films, but really don’t enjoy the books. I know! I know! You don’t know how I have tried to love the books! But I don’t. The films on the other hand capture me every time and I can watch them again and again.
Any other freaks out there like me? Or perhaps you can persuade me to try one more time?
The Los Angeles Times has a list of new holiday titles to try. The list has my two favorites of the year that I hope to review next week:
The Latke Who Couldn’t Stop Screaming by Lemony Snicket and The All-I’ll-Ever-Want Christmas Doll by Patricia McKissack.
Two very different but equally wonderful books.
I am honored to have been interviewed by Seven Imp about my blogging. Thank you so much to the bloggers who contributed such nice statements about this blog.
I can’t tell you how very much I get out of blogging on both a personal and professional level. So thank you for reading. Thank you for enjoying it. And thank you for making this such a pleasure.
I’d do it with no readers, but am so pleased to have all of you reading!
I should also mention that if you check out the interview you will see two very rare photos of yours truly. 🙂 Just in case you always wanted to put a face on this blogger.
NPR Music has a list of the Top 10 Kids’ CDs of 2007. I admit that I don’t listen to much children’s music and neither do my kids. So I have no reaction to the list except for joy that they offer a link so that you can listen to parts of songs.
For those of you who do listen to children’s music, do you have any favorites this year?
VOYA has released their 11th annual compilation of adult mysteries for teen readers, called Clueless. The list ranges from mysteries that cross genres to historical mysteries to police procedurals. VOYA is known for their understanding of older teens’ desire to read adult books. Their reviews of adult books for teen audiences are always right on the mark and offer high school librarians and public librarians working with teens a great basis for collection development and book lists.
Rowling will not be suing George Lippert, author of a fan fiction 8th book in the Harry Potter series. Rowling has stated that spin-offs are fine as long as they are not sold and it is made clear that she is not associated with the stories. She also requested that they not contain racism or pornography.
You can click here to see the Wikipedia entry on the Lippert book which is still hidden behind an elaborate website. Wikipedia’s entry offers the passwords you will need to explore the site fully.
The Tear Thief by Carol Ann Duffy, illustrated by Nicoletta Ceccoli.
This ethereal book features a strange, delicate creature called the Tear Thief, who goes to a different place in the world each night to catch tears. The thief listens for children crying and then sneaks to their sides invisibly to take their tears. You can only see the Tear Thief in reflections not by looking at it directly. The most valuable tears are those cried in true sorrow and they are the ones most useful in making the moon shine brighter and brighter, lit by children’s tears.
This book is very fairy-like with dainty pictures that have a misty, magical quality. The text too shares this feel of magical touches. Having a book with a non-scary but mysterious character is lovely. Children will recognize their own tantrums and cries here, and will wonder if the thief has ever visited them.
Best shared in small groups or at bedtime, this book will add a magical moment wherever it is shared.
The short list for the Costa Awards (formerly the Whitbread) has been announced. The four children’s books shortlisted are:
Because this is a British award, some of the books are not yet available in the States. Amazon lists all of the titles, but they don’t seem to have copies of them available. The Rosoff title is being released in the U.S. in 2008.
Waking Brain Cells 