Reading Rants has been updated!  I love this website filled with great recommendations for teen reads.  And check out Jen’s 2006 Top Ten list!

The Costa Book Award winners have been announced.  This award was formerly the Whitbread Book Award and is an award from the UK.  The winner for the children’s book category is Set in Stone by Linda Newbery. 

The short list included David Almond’s Clay, Julia Golding’s Diamond of Drury Lane, and Meg Rosoff’s Just in Case.

A new Yahoo Group email list has been started by Richie Partington, of Richie’s Picks. Middle_school_lit focuses on books for middle grades. 200 people have joined since it was started last week! It is already filled with great discussion, recommended reads, and much more.

I am back after a stomach flu and hoping to post plenty! I have a stack of picture books waiting on my desk to tell you all about and some recommended sites too.

Happy Holidays to all of my wonderful readers! Thank you for tuning in to my ramblings and sharing my love of books and children. It is a treat to read your comments, receive your emails, and get to know you.
I will be taking a break for the holidays through January 1st. Though I will be checking frequently on New Year’s Day to see what the finalists for the Cybils is. I look forward to working with the other judges for YA fiction! I look forward to the discussions and debates.
May you have holidays filled with candlelight, tradition, and love.

Confessions of a Bibliovore has started a meme for YA and kidlit bloggers.  Here are my answers to her questions:

How many other kidlit blogs do you read?

Many and the number is constantly changing.  I drop and add them constantly in an often circular pattern as I get overwhelmed by the number of blogs I am following and then realize that I am not reading what I want to read. 

What’s the most recent add?

pixie stix kids pix a great blog full of book reviews

How often do you post a book review to your blog?

Whenever I finish a book I want to share.  Some weeks it is almost every day and other weeks (like this one) I am in the middle of a teen novel and not finding picture books that are amazing.

Do you post about anything else?

I rant about books being banned, find little pieces of news, just try to stop me!

Do you only blog books you like, or the stinkers too?

Almost 100% books I like, but if there is a big name book (perhaps one that features a stuffed rabbit) that I don’t appreciate as much as others seem to, then I post my own perspective. 

How do you keep track of what you want to read?

I use a Word document that I add to whenever I find a book that sounds good.  It is divided into picture books and novels and I highlight the books that everyone else is raving about so that they don’t get lost in the huge list.  I never worry about running out of books to read!   I have a couple of publishers who share their free galleys with me and those aren’t on the list but instead sit near my computer and glare at me for not reading them faster.  I also keep track of what the libraries in my library system are purchasing and put myself on the holds lists.  When I visit neighboring libraries they always recognize my name in the children’s departments because of the number of holds I place.  It is a dark day when I don’t receive a hold at the library.  Shocks my staff too!

How do you keep track of what you’ve read?

This blog helps a lot.  Almost all of the teen novels I have read fully, I include here.  Picture books are harder, but they are easier to read a second time by mistake.  I do try to use LibraryThing, but never remember to. 

Do you work with kids?

Well, I used to up until 6 months ago.  Now I am a library director who is occasionally allowed to fill in at the children’s services desk.  I also make sure I wander through the children’s department on a daily basis to see the children and parents and feel the vibe.

Do you read grown-up books?

Not much at all.  I do have a love of cookbooks, so I read those often, but mostly it is teen and children’s fiction for me.

Incredibly frustrating news from Charlotte, NC: School district bans book about gay penguins. And Tango Makes Three is the new favorite book to protest about. Let’s not notice the fact that it is based on a real story about real birds and of course let’s dismiss the fact that a school of any size, much less the size of Charlotte-Mecklenburg, has children with gay parents, gay relatives, gay friends, or may be gay themselves.
The worst part is that the school has in place a material reconsideration policy that was not followed at all. Yes it may have been oversight, but I have seen library directors panic in the past and just pull books from shelves because they believe that it is easier to get rid of the offending material than have to defend it publicly. Defend it people! This is what democracy is all about. Let us demonstrate to the children in our communities that books are worth fighting for, that books are the basis of ideas and learning, that books are valuable even if one parent is concerned. Let’s have a conversation, hear each other out, and let the process decide the result. Fear of controversy is the worst reason to take this type of action. I can’t think of any good reason myself, but fear has to be the lowest of the low. Grow a spine! Defend the book!

Mugglecast is a podcast for Harry Potter fans.  They have done 67 shows and offer them not only in audio form but also have transcripts.  They have a sweet Podtrac interface that allows you to easily listen to the podcast even without an mp3 player loaded.  Sweet! 

I am sorry to report that many if not most of the legitimate comments on this blog have been being junked by my blog software without me even being informed that there was a comment! I didn’t figure it out until my own replies to comments were disappearing as well. Turns out that most of the junked items were real comments and not spam!
Anyway, it is fixed now and should not happen again. Please feel free to repost any comments that have disappeared. That way I will see them and be able to reply.
Commenting is one of the best parts of blogging, so I am so sorry that this happened. And pretty ashamed that it took me so long to realize that something was not working right.