Get ready to be a little ticked off.  Or a lot, if you are like me.

Publishers in the UK are censoring children’s books not for sexual content or violence, but for real evil.  Brace yourself.  Ready?  They are protecting your children from (gasp) sharp objects and walking alone – IN BOOKS.  Yup. 

So, no child in Britain will be exposed to the horror of sharp sticks, fire-breathing dragons, perching on ladders, or heating elements glowing red. 

Well, thank goodness that someone is protecting my children!  I mean, silly mother that I am, I might have read them books about dragons, swords, painting the stars on ladders, or any number of things.

Now let’s understand what the real enemy is here:  IMAGINATION!  GASP!

Wouldn’t want those kids to start thinking, dreaming, learning!  Just turn the TV back on.  They won’t see anything bad there.  It’s the books that are dangerous.  You could lose an eye!

Reading Rants! has released their 2007 top ten teen books.

I have read so few of them!  So they are going on my list of ones to read.  I have read Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt, and LOVED it.  I consider it a top contender for the Newbery.  But I wonder at Sherman Alexie not making the list…

The Public Library of Westland in Michigan has a great collection of 100 Books Your Child Should Hear Before Starting School.  Reading aloud to children is such an important part of emergent literacy! 

As their site says reading aloud to children will

• improve listening and communication skills
• build vocabulary
• and teach that written word has meaning
• most importantly, you foster a love of reading

I love the idea of a library providing a list of great readalouds for patrons.  Some books are just made to read aloud while others simply don’t have the rhythm, pacing and wording. 

At our library, I recently got to sit in on a focus group for our Long Range Plan where educators discussed the changing relationship between children and books.  While there was mention of children’s new relationship with video games and TV changing their brains, everyone agreed that children still adore to be read to.  So let’s take those modern-brained children and make sure they understand the special pleasure of a shared book.

The longlist for the 2008 Carnegie prize has been announced.  I haven’t read many of them, but please if you have let’s hear from you!  My favorite on the list is Skullduggery Pleasant, which is a real treat of a unique fantasy novel. 

AHLBERG, Allan The Boyhood of Burglar Bill
BERTAGNA, Julie, Zenith
BIRCH, Beverley, Rift
BOWLER, Tim Frozen Fire
BROOKS, Kevin Being
COLFER, Eoin The Legend of the Worst Boy in the World
CROSSLEY-HOLLAND, Kevin Gatty’s Tale
DOGAR, Sharon Waves
DOWD, Siobhan The London Eye Mystery
DOWNHAM, Jenny Before I Die
DUFFY, Carol Ann The Hat
FISHER, Catherine Incarceron
FLETCHER, Charlie Stoneheart
GILMAN, David The Devil’s Breath
GLASS, Linzi Ruby Red
HAIG, Matt Shadow Forest
HARDINGE, Frances Verdigris Deep
HOOPER, Mary The Remarkable Life and Times of Eliza Rose
JONES, Diana Wynne The Pinhoe Egg
KENNEN, Ally Berserk
KUIPERS, Alice Life on the Refrigerator Door
LAIRD, Elizabeth Crusade
LANDMAN, Tanya Apache
LANDY, Derek Skulduggery Pleasant
LOTT, Tim Fearless
McCAUGHREAN, Geraldine Peter Pan in Scarlet
McKENZIE, Sophie Girl, Missing
MORPURGO, Michael Alone on a Wide Wide Sea
PAVER, Michelle Soul Eater
PEET, Mal The Penalty
PRATCHETT, Terry Wintersmith
REEVE, Philip Here Lies Arthur
RIDDELL, Chris Ottoline and the Yellow Cat
ROBERTS, Katherine I Am The Great Horse
ROBSON, Mark Imperial Assassin
ROSOFF, Meg What I Was
ROWLING, J.K. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
ST. JOHN, Lauren Dolphin Song
SEDGWICK, Marcus Blood Red Snow White
SINGLETON, Sarah Sacrifice
SUZUMA, Tabitha From Where I Stand
THOMPSON, Kate The Last of the High Kings
VALENTINE, Jenny Finding Violet Park
WILLIS, Jeanne Shamanka
WRAY, Sarah The Forbidden Room

Nominated for the 2007 Fantasy/Science Fiction Cybil.

Extras by Scott Westerfeld

Aya is desperate for fame and attention, but she is just the 15-year-old younger sister of the famous Hiro.  In a society built entirely on feeds and online reputation, Aya seeks the perfect story to kick that will bring her immediate fame.  She finds it in the Sly Girls, a gang of girls who shun the reputation economy and refuse to seek the limelight.  The group do danger stunts like surfing trains, and Aya finds herself invited into the gang.  It is on one of their surfing stunts that Aya discovers a story far bigger than the Sly Girls.  One that is infinitely kickable.

Westerfeld has done it again with this fourth book in the Uglies Trilogy.  He has again created a fascinating society that carries part of our current society to an extreme.  In Extras it is the MySpace, Facebook factor that we see revealed before us.  Westerfeld does this with dynamic action, fascinating complications and reaches far beyond a dystopian look at an extreme society. 
Westerfeld excels at not only society building, but creating heroines who are flawed and human but at the same time wildly exceptional.  Aya is exactly that type of heroine, and will be a welcome addition to any list of strong females in science fiction.

Highly recommended for lovers of the trilogy, this book has to be read as fourth in a series.  The exceptional cover will have teens grabbing it off the shelf and then desperately returning for the first three novels. 

When I started my blog several years ago, I had always had it in the back of my mind that I wanted to focus more on small press publications than on the big books making news everywhere.  So I tried.  I contacted small presses for review copies, got on some lists but very few, and eventually got swept up by other larger publishers and their glossy covers.

When I get books from small presses, they usually fall into similar categories as larger press.  There are the ones that exceed their promise, those that disappoint and those that are simply OK.  But what I love about small presses is that there are true undiscovered gems in there.  And even better, there are books that take real chances, risk it all and some work and others fail horribly.  But at least the risk was taken. 

So I wonder, how do we get copies of books by small presses to review?  How do we
bring to people’s attention great books that are being overlooked
simply because of the size of their printing?  How do small presses
afford to even consider sending review copies? 

And my question to all of you is if you are reading small press materials, how did you get your hands on them?  I would much rather wade through unknown material never before reviewed than find yet another book whose marketing promises the moon and then the book is mediocre at best.

Children’s Book Week is next week, November 12-18.  Their website offers all sorts of great items for promoting your special children’s programs for the week.  Not doing any?  Well maybe in May you will have more time.  Children’s Book Week moves to May starting next year, so you get another chance to have great children’s book programs in on May 12-18. 

Anyone have plans for some great programs they would like to share?  Most of us probably couldn’t get them off the ground fast enough to copy, but perhaps we can use them in May!

The Busy Little Squirrel by Nancy Tafuri.

Follow the busy day of a small squirrel preparing for winter in this charming picture book.  As he gathers food, squirrel rushes past all kinds of other animals, giving children a chance to make all kinds of animal sounds.  The refrain of “He was so busy” carries through the book, inviting toddlers to repeat the phrase again and again. 

This is a lovely autumn book by a wonderful author of picture books.  Tafuri knows how to create a book that will both interest small children and welcome them in.  The illustrations are large, bold and full of action and color.  Each page has just a few lines of text, meaning that the pictures will move by at the speed of a running squirrel.  

With the repetition in the text, animal noises and great art, this book is highly recommended for use in toddler story times or for preschoolers with short attention spans. 

Kirkus Reviews has released their Best Children’s Books of 2007.  For the first time, there are no YA books included on the list.  Lots of my favorites are present here:  Hugo Cabret, Sis’ The Wall, Leaves, Pictures from Our Vacation!  Plenty of great reads!