Random House has created an amazing website for The Five Ancestors, a seven-book kung-fu series by Jeff Stone. The first book Tiger has just been released. The site offers historical information, online activities and information on the author and the series.
Manga Contest
TOKYOPOP holds an annual competition for amateur manga creators. Now is the time to vote in the 5th competition for your favorite. Manga Player lets you take a close look at the art style and writing.
Random for Librarians
Librarians@Random is a website to turn to for booktalk ideas. Yes, it is coming straight from a publisher, but because of that, the brief booktalks are of very current titles and new releases. Other booktalk sites tend to focus more on classic titles or backlist favorites. The site also offers booklists, theme ideas, and news items.
LA Times Finalists
Los Angeles Times Book Prize Finalists have been announced for Young Adult Fiction:
Benjamin Alire Saenz, Sammy and Juliana in Hollywood (Cinco Puntos Press)
Melvin Burgess, Doing It (Henry Holt Books for Young Readers)
Michael Morpurgo, Private Peaceful (Scholastic Press)
Adam Rapp, Under the Wolf, Under the Dog (Candlewick Press)
Meg Rosoff, How I Live Now (Wendy Lamb Books / Random House Children’s Books)
That is quite a selection of books! Very impressive list of some of the edgier and best-written books of the year.
Harry Potter Cover Art
The cover art for both versions of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince were released earlier this week. Above is the cover for the American edition and below are two articles, one covering the American version and the other the chidren’s edition for the rest of the world. The American market has a different publisher for the book and therefore different art. The other countries of the world will also have an adult version of the book with different cover art.
The Power of Fiction
Kansas City Star — Children don’t need adult help to tell fiction from fact is a heart-felt defense of The Giver by Lois Lowry and all children’s literature that leads readers to question and learn. If you are as dismayed as I am by the recent rash of book bannings in schools, then you too need to read this.
Themes
Theme Curriculum is a nice site filled with seasonal themes. Each theme has recommended books, fingerplays, recipes, related links, and crafts. This is the a great resource for folks looking for story time ideas.
Hungry Hen
Hungry Hen by Richard Waring, illustrated by Caroline Jayne Church, is another of my favorite preschool/Kindergarten read alouds. I usually read a more conventional chicken and fox story right before it, like Hattie and the Fox. Then I say that there are other ways for a book like that to end.
Hungry Hen is the story of a fox that waits and waits for the hen to get bigger and bigger. As he waits, he gets skinnier and skinnier and the hen becomes enormous. Finally, he can wait no longer, so he runs to the henhouse and… Well, you just have to read it. And the stunned silence that the kids give you after the end is so great. And then the laughter. I usually have problems taking the book away with me afterwards because they want to read it again and again.
Bolinda
Bolinda Publishing is a publisher of audio books for teens. Their prices are amazing, under $30 for unabridged Books on CD. And best of all, both YALSA and Booklist have included Bolinda titles on their best of 2004 lists.
Waking Brain Cells 