Joystiq is a useful blog for those of us interested in consoles or just learning more about consoles. It offers links to game reviews, news, hacks, and more and covers all of the major consoles on the market as well as PC gaming.

Beth Galloway’s post to the PLA Blog has convinced me of the validity of gaming consoles in a public library. I don’t know why I was resistant to it. Perhaps because there are several competing consoles, so how do you choose which one to offer. Perhaps because we already offer games on computer and online gaming. Perhaps because I knew that it would be a near-impossible sell to my Foundation that funds all of our cool, tech items. But with Beth’s take on it, I think it is worth the fight. And I know that even in our little community I would have lots of teens coming in to play. They are already using the computers for Runescape and would probaby love something that they could play head-to-head on. Now just to find a possible space to put the console in…
Update: As I ponder this more and more, I begin to wonder why libraries are doing consoles rather than PC games. Is it straight cost? My worries with consoles are that they lack the flexibility of computers and that they will become dated more quickly. Anyone have a defense of console vs. computer?

The Blue Valley school district in Overland Park, KS is engaged in a battle to remove books from the curriculum. The books being challenged include classics like I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, and Fallen Angels.
Interestingly, there is also a battle of websites. ClassKC.org is the site for Citizens for Literary Standards in Schools which is the group challenging the books. Students Speak Out is the site for students at Blue Valley who oppose the banning.
This is a chance for those of us on the outside to see the type of logic that book challengers use and to witness the magic of teens defending their right to read.

DenverPost.com has a nice article called, “New releases take kids around the world.” The children’s books listed include stories from Central Asia, Africa, Korea, Iraq and Afghanistan.

Peggy Rathmann, children’s author and illustrator, takes life one page at a time is a very nice article on Peggy Rathmann, author of Officer Buckle and Gloria, Goodnight Gorilla and 10 Minutes to Bedtime, which has to be one of the best lapreads of all time.
The article covers how she began writing children’s books and what she is working on now.

Walden Media’s Because of Winn-Dixie site offers an interview with author Kate DiCamillo on making the movie from her book.

The Independent Online Edition has an article on Eric Carle and his new book, 10 Little Rubber Ducks. I have shared Rubber Ducks with one preschool storytime, a preschool class, and two classes of kindergarteners and the result is always the same: pure delight. Oh, and though the article mentions malfunctions in the noisemakers at the end, ours has been thoroughly tested by lots of little fingers and continues to work flawlessly. The preschool class immediately insisted that I bring another Eric Carle book with me next week and I am only too happy to do just that.

Vocabulary University offers all sorts of free vocab puzzles and activities. There are thematic sections and also sections to help prep for tests like SAT and ACT.

Mystery Writers of America have announced the nominees for the 2005 Edgar Mystery Awards. Here are the teen and children’s categories:
Best Young Adult
Story Time by Edward Bloor
In Darkness, Death by Dorothy & Thomas Hoobler
Jude by Kate Morgenroth
The Book of Dead Days by Marcus Sedgwick
Missing Abby by Lee Weatherly
Best Juvenile
Chasing Vermeer by Blue Balliett
Assassin: The Lady Grace Mysteries by Patricia Finney
Abduction! by Peg Kehret
Looking for Bobowicz by Daniel Pinkwater
The Unseen by Zilpha Keatley Snyder