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I decided - last week - to feature magazines on KBWT and then, I saw this cute little clip on Facebook and that led me to my friend's Instagram account which reminded me that my LinkedIn page could use some oomph so I went on YouTube and discovered the Easter videos I uploaded and then I got a.... never mind.

So here a week - and a day- later are some links to kids' magazines that offer parents/educators information, some games and info on how to subscribe.

Let's start with that staple of pediatrician's offices, Highlights.
 https://www.highlights.com/
Highlights offers THREE magazines, Hello! is for babies through 2 year olds and it's so cute!
High Five! is for children up to age 6.
The Highlights that we all know and love claims to be for children between the ages of 6 and 12.  The magazine does offer stories and articles and different reading difficulties.  Personally, I think children tire of just about everything except the hidden pictures - NO ONE gets tired of the Hidden Pictures, EVER - by the time they are 10.  No matter.  This is a solid, well designed, advertisement free, magazine for the whole family.

Next up is MY favorite family of Kids Magazines from Cricket Magazine.
 

 The link below leads you to descriptions of all their magazines from the adorably durable Babybug (ages 0 to 3) through Cicada, a literary magazine for teens.  Besides award-winning literary magazines for all ages, Cricket offers FIVE non-fiction magazines for kids - magazines that encourage learning through well-written and well illustrated articles about the world; science, history, math, cultures, geography - AWESOME!
http://www.cricketmag.com/kids_home.asp 

Kiki Magazine is geared to girls between the ages of 10 and 14.  There are no advertisements in Kiki and the articles center around fashion, finance and entrepreneurship.  Yeah!  Heady stuff!  But the magazine is colorful and age appropriate and no one needs to worry about an advice column that discusses "uncertain" topics.
 
Here's another magazine that targets the same demographic as Kiki -
New Moon Magazine for Girls
This looks amazing!  I have never seen this magazine in person but the website is cool.  Take a look, all you girls between the ages of 8 and 14.  There is something in here for you.  And it says that the editors and a lot of the authors are girls themselves.

Which brings us to....
Stone Soup Magazine 
Since 1973, Stone Soup magazine has been entirely written and illustrated by kids!  Whoa! And they publish books by kids, too.

BOYS! 
 Once boys hit 11 or 12, there is a dearth of magazines geared to their interests.
SI for Kids - mirrors the adult Sports Illustrated, without the swim suits and with kid-friendly advertisement.
Boys Life - the official magazine of the Boy Scouts offers a lot of great articles about the outdoors, sports, technology and the values of the Boy Scouts.  It was a long time ago, but I LOVED reading my brother's copy of Boys Life.

MORE!
There are dozens of magazines for children and teens - science magazines, sports magazines, classroom magazines that cater to teachers.  A lot of non-fiction magazines offer children's versions, such as National Geographic Kids and National Geographic Little Kids.

And don't forget Ranger Rick and Ranger Rick Jr (formerly Your Big Backyard) and Humpty Dumpty and Boys Quest and Hopscotch...  I could go on and on but it took me over a week to get THIS post up.  I'll stop now.

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Jame Patterson - whew!  When does that guy sleep?  I bet he has electrodes attached to his brain to transcribe his dreams so when he wakes up, he has new ideas.

In July, his latest book series begins, The Homeroom Diaries.  Margaret "Cuckoo" Clarke, back from a brief sojourn in a mental hospital, tries to get all the warring factions of her high school to bury the hatchet.  Really, that's all you need to know.  The possibilities for mayhem that exist in that premise are infinite, indeed.  Patterson's great-grandchildren will inherit this franchise when all high schools will be virtual - but the problems will be the same.  Sigh.  Unless "Cuckoo" is successful and real teens use her stories as a model of peaceful behavior.  Hope springs!

Kids Book Website Tuesday!!!
1.  Cops 'n' Kids  Last Wednesday, I visited the Cops'n'Kids Reading Room on the Southside Northampton Community College campus.  What an inviting - and exciting - place!  While I was there talking to Bev Bradley, who manages this organization, two children came in with parents and walked out with FREE their-very-own-to-keep books.  Studies have shown that children who grow up with books in their homes, books that STAY in their homes, have an advantage in education.  As a librarian, I worry about the unintended slight to libraries a little bit.  I know and understand the deep attachment that children have for their very own books and I applaud Cops-n-Kids for making book ownership a possibility for everyone.  If you live in the Lehigh Valley, visit the Reading Room on Wednesdays or Saturdays.  If you live elsewhere, look at what they do to copy, or find a similar group near you.

2 Slimekids   So this site just might KBWT extinct.  Andy Fine, the creator of SlimeKids collects book review sites, book trailers, links to authors websites and more on this one website.  Thanks, Andy.  Now, what will I do on Tuesdays?

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SLJ's Battle of the Books started already.  I missed the first two matches. The results of Round 1, Match 2 are here:  Round 1, Match 1, click here.

Here's Match 2.  Just guess which one wins.

 Sometimes, the best part of each match is the anticipation.  In these cases, since I haven't even had a chance to look at one of the entries in each match, the judge's comments will help me a lot.

Check out the brackets below.  I am ready for the next Match and I predict..... Eleanor and Park will win!  Except that Doll Bones was awesome, too.  Glad I'm not a judge!

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It's Kids Book Website Tuesday.  Thanks to Chaz Kiernan, storyteller, author, blogger and book lover supreme, I can offer you the blog of Karen Chace.  Right now, she is doing clean-up on her blog.  So I linked to a post that is all about Fall, school, stories and books.  Check it out.

Karen links to storytelling sites, school websites, educator's resources and lots and lots of other fun places.  I am teaching Preschool First Day again and Karen's links to scarecrow resources is sure to come in handy - with fingerplays, a host of scarecrow books, craft ideas and more.

Finding a blogger who takes the time to research a plethora of useful links is a gift.

Mackin - a book jobber that sells primarily to schools and libraries - has a BookTalk site for teachers, parents and children.  Want to more more about the book Creepy Carrots?  (One of my favorite carrot books, by the way).  Mackin BookTalk gives a summary of the book, information on the author, a place where readers can rate the books they read AND suggestions for more age appropriate books on similar subjects.

You can choose books from various States Best list for the most current school year, too.  Alas, Pennsylvania is not among those states.  But, wait, Pennsylvania is a Commonwealth!  Hmmm, must think about this.  Never mind.  The other states pick excellent books, too, I'm sure.

And now for your convenience, I will separate out the sites I've linked to in my blog above:

Karen Chace and her excellent list of Fall resources can be found here: http://karenchace.blogspot.com/2011/10/school-daze-school-daze-ii.html

Chaz Kiernan's website is here:  lostdollar.net

Mackin BookTalk lives at this URL: http://mackinbooktalk.com/

Peter Brown's website - he's the illustrator of Creepy Carrots - can be found here.   http://www.peterbrownstudio.com/books/#.Ui83V7x4K_g

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Forget all blog-related "schedules".  I will post what I want when I want.  This week's KBWT is KBWThursday.  (I was off doing something else on Tuesday.)

Barefoot Books has been one of my favorite publishers since they arrived on the scene.  Their folklore anthologies are attractive and fun to read.  Barefoot Books is committed to providing colorful books that provide children with access to diverse cultures and activities.

Visit their Kids page to download craft activities, watch videos and listen to stories.

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Just so you know, when I feature a publisher's website I get no remuneration.  I just feature those websites because I like them.

Today, for Kids Book Website Tuesday, I offer you the HMH Books for Young Readers Blog.   This is a book review blog touting the latest and greatest of HMH's offerings.  You can watch book trailers.  You can choose to view only Teen titles or Kids titles or both and there are categories among all these books for you to choose from.  The blog is colorful and a teensy bit interactive.  I like it.

I also want to feature an author today.  I just finished Jessica Day George's Wednesdays in the Tower, and my reaction to the ending was WHATTTT!!!???  Because we are left hanging and that is almost exactly what happens.  Read the book - or if you hate suspense - wait until ALL the Castle books are written and read them in one fell swoop. Or, and this is my choice, read them one by one and THEN in one fell swoop. Anyway,  I checked out Jessica's website and, from there, her blog.  If you liked Tuesdays at the Castle, you will thoroughly enjoy Wednesdays in the Tower. Check out the pages!

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It's Tuesday!! Time for a Kids' Book Website.

Check out  Grace Lin's website.  Grace wrote Starry River of the Sky, which was a Battle of the Kids Book contestant.  I loved it.  But I have liked Grace's picture books and chapter books for several years.  Her Where the Mountain Meets the Moon was a Newbery Honor Book.

Her website offers activities based on her books, Chinese lessons, a link to her blog and a bio.

And here is a book trailer for her novel for 3rd and 4th grades, Dumpling Days, the third novel about a Chinese American girl named Pacy.

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So, this week I am early.  Last week KBWT did not even happen. So, stop complaining ;)!

I can't remember how I stumbled across this superb story time website.  The Wielded Pen is amazing and I know I will use it again and again.  Here you will find story time plans for public and school librarians all complete and ready to use!!!!  The blogster, Dorothy, does such a wonderful job, too.  Preschool teachers, Sunday school teachers and homeschooling moms will also find The Wielded Pen enjoyable and useful.



And excellent children's book reviews are a major part of this blog.  So check out The Wielded Pen today.

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This week is out of sync.  On Tuesday, I thought it was Monday -missed an appointment on Monday - sigh.

So today, I want to remind you about figment - a writing and reading website for teens. Which is the kind of thing I usually share on Tuesday.  Out of sync, like I said.

Here it is -  figment.com - a website for young writers and a great place to learn about hot books for young adults - 15 and up! Some are fine for younger readers.  I just want you to know this is a site you can grow with.

Sign up for their weekly newsletter.  Today, I took a quiz to see if I have ESP. (I'm Possibly Psychic - which is better than clueless, I guess.)  But, you can write fanfic to win prizes; enter contests of all kinds; learn about awesome new books, films, music and TV shows - all of which require good writers. 

Check it out and have fun. 

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Is it Tuesday?  I.... yes, I believe it is.  So for today's Kids Book Website Tuesday, I'd like to feature the - Ta Dah - Library of Congress.

The repository for all things literary here in the US of A has a literacy program known as the Curious George Campaign.  The campaign is designed to offer simple suggestions to parents and educators for incorporating reading everywhere.  This site does not have a lot of moving parts or colorful pictures but it is a gateway site.  You might get hooked on books.  Not such a bad habit.

While wandering around the Library of Congress' site, check out Read.gov.  Read books written just for Read.gov visitors.  Or read children's books from long ago.  Learn about this year's National Ambassador for Young People's Literature, Walter Dean Myers.  And watch author webcasts.  Yeah, the Library of Congress is big, beautiful, full of books, and awesome.

But wait, there's more!  More KBWT, that is, not more Library of Congress.  You will have to explore the L of C, yourselves.  That job is too big for one blogger. 

While wandering around the web, I found Edmonton Public Library's delightful pdf booklet "100 Great Books to Read Together."  The booklet offers lists of books to share with babies, toddlers and preschoolers.  There are even spaces to write in your child's favourite (note the extra "u") titles and reading times.  So cute!! Public libraries rock all over North America! And the world!  Print this booklet out today.

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At this time of year I troll Kids' Book Websites to see which great titles I missed during the past 11 months.  Every year there are so many good books out there.

Websites and e-newsletters, like today's featured site, The Children's Book Review, are so helpful to librarians, teachers, parents, reading specialists, booksellers - oh, and young readers, too - who want to keep up with books for young people. 

The above link will lead you to the latest newsletter for this website.  Articles include, Holiday Favorites, Best YA, Kids and Questions: Books for Explaining How Things Work and links lead to the New York Times list of Notable Children's Books of 2012, among other useful articles.

Do yourself a favor and scroll down to this month's Book Giveaways and enter.  You might get lucky!

So catch up on the best books for giving and for reading.  Check out The Children's Book Review, today.

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Whoa! the past two weeks have been chaotic as most people on the East Coast know.  Dad's in the hospital with pneumonia.  I'd like to blame Sandy but I don't think a hurricane can cause pneumonia.  So there's been a lot of to-ing and fro-ing.

In the meantime, family members are arriving from all over because Dad is pretty sick.  Poor Dad! 

Anyway, KBWT did not happen this week but I just found a website that I am going to use A LOT!  Carol Hurst's Children's Literature Site.  Teachers and children's activity leaders will LOVE this site.  Helpful  reviews, booklists, a newsletter, links to other helpful sites, lesson plans!  So much useful well-organized stuff.

I needed a resource list for cities and towns because today is World Town Planning Day and Carol Hurst's site had an excellent list with books I SHOULD have remembered to include in my program tonight.  I just signed up for Carol's newsletter so that I never forget this site again.  YAY!

And World Town Planning Day reminds me of one of my favorite towns - Richard Scarry's Busy Town!!  CBS has a great site based on their Busy Town Mysteries show.   Check it out

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Clifford, the Big Red Dog, is 50 years old!  Yikes!!! That is one old puppy - to say nothing of BIG!  So go to Scholastic.com and send Clifford a birthday card.  Play Clifford-y games.  Print out Clifford coloring pages.  Enter the Clifford Sweepstakes.  That's our Kids Book Website for today.

Scholastic Publishers had a BIG birthday party yesterday for the best dog ever!

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So today I am featuring a local - sort of - Children's Book Festival - the Lititz Kid Lit Festival.

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My First Fall Giveaway is still on!  5 YA books can be yours - FREE!  See my post from Sept. 9th for details.

In honor of that giveaway, my KBWT this week is the home of The Inquisitor's Apprentice by Chris Moriarty.  The book is, as Betsy Bird has proclaimed, "awesome".  But the website is awesome, too, with historical notes and background on the characters and the setting.

Just one of Mark Edward Geyer's illustrations.

Sacha lives in the tenements of NYC at the turn of the 20th Century and he can see magic when it is cast.  This makes him a perfect candidate as an apprentice to the energetic and enigmatic Inquisitor, NYPD's Number One investigator into Magical Crimes.  Sacha's Jewish background, the ethnic potpourri that make up the tenements, the realistic social hierarchy and inequities of that time and place all support a truly suspenseful first book in what, I hope, will be a long-lived series.  The ending leaves us all hanging because Sacha's first case has endangered all he loves.  I can't wait for the second book.

Moriarty incorporates some very well-known early 20th century historical characters in this book, casting some as villains and others as puppets or heroes.  Historical fantasy is a wonderful way to feed readers some facts with their fiction.

Check out the website!  Moriarty provides a lot of background on the site.  Teachers and parents will appreciate the historical research into the time period AND into the historical figures featured in the book.  Young readers can find out about the structure behind the magic workers that populate Sacha's world.  The illustrations by Mark Edward Geyer are awesome as well.  The work AWESOME should be described like this;  "adj. Read The Inquisitor's Apprentice to fully understand what this word means."

The second book, The Watcher in the Shadows comes out in April of 2013.  So hard to wait!!!

Want to win an Advanced Reader's Copy of The Inquisitor's Apprentice?   Click here for details.

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From Jama's Alphabet Soup's blog. I love the little feet!

 This is such a pretty blog!  Excellent lay-out, lovely photos and scads and scads of book reviews.  Add Jama's Alphabet Soup to your list of Kids Book Websites.  You won't be sorry.

I found Jama's blog by looking at THIS site, 100 Best Book Blogs for Kids, Tweens and Teens.  What a treasure trove of literary superb-ity!  BTW, while you are looking at all those amazing blogs, click on Study Hall to find ALL kinds of education related links - about nutrition and Twitter feeds and history blogs and websites and teacher resources.  Onlineschools.org looks pretty darn interesting.  I must investigate further.

Jama's blog appears to concentrate on picture books.  (On a closer look, I realize it covers a lot of different things.) Onlineschools concentrates on everything.   For book reviews of elementary through high school titles, check out BooksForKids.  This blog features excerpts of the books, an excellent marketing device.  Picture books for primary grades, "chapter" books (is that actually a literary designation, or just what kids call them?) for older readers, the blogger offers a potpourri of book selections. 

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It's Tuesday!  And sometimes on Tuesday, I post little reviews of websites that feature children's books, reviews of children's books, or activities to encourage reading of children's books - by kids and their grown-ups.

So look what I found!!  Author/illustrator Hans Wilhelm has made several of his books into pdf files that can be used in classrooms, read online, projected, printed out - whatever!  The only requirement is that the use be non-commercial.  So schools and libraries and parents at home can share these fun titles with their young readers.  The website is called Children's Books Forever.  Check it out.

If you are someone who only wants your young person to read the BEST of children's books, then you will like The Best Children's Books.  It's a book finding service that lists best books by a variety of categories.   These sites are always useful and fun to browse through. 

Me, I think the best book for a child is the one that makes that child want to read.   Sometimes, that's a flimsy grocery store mass-produced book about a TV character.  Sometimes it's a classic.  Kids need both.  Like the creators of The Best Children's Books, above, I lean heavily toward classics. But I can still recite the opening lines of The Huffin Puff Express (words by David L. Harrison and art by Art Seiden) which I bought at the grocery store for next to nothing years ago.  Just saying.


Now for some fun!  Funbrain!  It's a website chock full of games that reinforce reading and math skills for kids.   You will find reviews, comics, books to read online, and games at Funbrain.

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Check my Let's Make Stuff page for directions on how to make a paper campfire with your young friends and family members.  Very cute and you can use it as a fire starter when you go camping.

It's KBWT!  I'd like to feature Kathy Ross' website as the Kids Book Website for today.  Kathy has written slews and slews of books about making crafts with kids, or about kids making crafts.  Her crafts often use items that other people will toss away.  Some of her crafts are SO clever and SO easy that I am speechless with wonder.  To be completely unbiased, I have to admit that a few of her crafts do not appeal to me.  But every single one of her books has several crafts that I wish I had thought up first.

So many craft books for kids result in "cute" things that are really more about technique and/or about keeping the kids busy than they are about making something useful.  Kathy Ross' crafts often have a play or gift component.  The Comet Balls from her book Crafts for Kids Who Are Wild about Outer Space are a good example. (Sadly, the book is no longer in print.)  We made those last week for the Stories in the Schools.  They are simple aluminum foil balls with ribbon tails that allow children to toss the balls and catch them by the tails.  So easy to do.  So cute.  Have I been effusive enough?  Check out the website.  Look for Kathy's books at the bookstore or library tonight!

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Check out First Book, an organization that distributes books to children who live with few or any books in their lives.  First Book supports other literacy programs as well.  Please look at their website at www.firstbook.org and help this fine organization out.

Parents are always asking which books are best for their children - best as in "most likely to make my child smarter" and best as in "I don't want to waste my time on some silly little book."

My answer has always been, "If you and your child both like the book, THAT is the best book for you."

Hmmm, not good enough, I'm afraid.  So check out Scholastic.com's 100 Best Books for children.  There, that should keep you all happy for awhile.

Start them young.  Start them right - or is that correctly?

But, in case, you really want more, more, more - as well you should - check out Betsy Bird's blog, A Fuse#8 Production, and scroll down til you see the little tabs on the right hand that say 100 Best Picture Books,  and 100 Best Chapter Books.  You may be able to get a Pdf of Betsy's latest 100 best poll that finished up at the end of June.  So many great books are on these lists.

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So, here's an idea.  Run a Summer Reading Club!  Offer kids free books - or prizes - when they successfully;
a.  Complete a predetermined number of books, or pages or amount of time
b. Answer questions about the books they read OR write a review OR tell someone about the book
c.  Attend programs in your place of business
d.  Complete a scavenger hunt OR a puzzle OR find a hidden object
e.  Do all or any combination of the above.

So, who runs these Summer Reading Clubs?  Public Libraries!  I said, PUBLIC LIBRARIES! Bookstores! (Like the Moravian Book Shop)  (Click on these links to learn more about their summer reading clubs.) Publishers!  Those three make sense.  Some school districts run reading clubs.  Tutoring centers run reading centers.  Here are a few of the more well-known Summer Reading Clubs.

Sylvan Learning Centers run BookAdventure.  (Check out the snazzy buccaneer dinosaur and dog!)  Sylvan has produced quizzes on recommended books.  And quiz taking is part of the club's requirements.  Sylvan boasts that they have quizzes for close to 8000 books so you should find something you or your young reader like..

Barnes and Noble Booksellers have run Summer Reading Clubs for years.  This year's theme, Imagination's Destination, dovetails nicely with the Collaborative Summer Library Program's theme of Dream Big - Read (The Public library program).  Barnes and Noble just asks that readers in grades 1 through 6 to read and record a set number of books.  It's easy!

Scholastic Books asks kids - or teachers - to log their time spent reading.  Word Girl is the mascot this year and Scholastic offers certificates, activities, booklists and more.  Check it out.

PBSKids has partnered with other organizations to provide Reading Programs - like the Soar with Reading program sponsored by PBSKids and JetBlue.  Join to earn prizes AND to donate books to needy children around the USA.

iVillage has joined with PBSKids to provide their own Summer Reading Challenge.  Click here for more information.   The program offers daily email tips for increasing your child's literacy skills.  This is a great program for parents of "emerging" readers.

BTW, I wondered if Amazon.com offered a Summer Reading Program and a simple search only offered me a chance to buy a book.  Hmmm.  I guess brick and mortar stores care more about the literacy of their future customers than online merchants.  If I am wrong, please send me the link to Amazon's Summer Reading program.  I promise to post it here.

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Today, on SLJ's Extra Helping, Catherynne Valente's speech to a group of librarians (she wonders if a group of librarians is called a "kindness") was posted in full.  Valente wrote the book The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of her Own Making.  I love the title of that book and the cover art but I have not read it.

The speech is lovely and makes me want to read the book even more.  There is a character in the book whose parentage includes a library!  I want to adopt Ms. Valente.  I bet she has a perfectly good mother already so I am too late.  Click and read and then run out and get the book.

KBWT - Kids Book Website Tuesday - TUMBLEBOOKS

Kids' books online - all the time - actual books published by actual publishers in the real paper and ink world - THAT's what Tumblebooks is all about.

Parents can subscribe to Tumblebooks, if they want.  BUT, before you rush off to do that, check your public library's website.  A lot of public libraries offer Tumblebooks as a free service to their patrons.  It's not cheap but to a public library with hundred of kid customers, it's very affordable.  In the Lehigh Valley both the Allentown Public Library and the Parkland Community Library subscribe to this delightful database.

Some of the books are partnered with games to test comprehension and to foster literacy skills.  Most of the books can be read alone, or with an audio track.   So check out Tumblebooks today.

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Today, I got an offer from Flamingnet to download a free copy of Sprite by Leigh Michael.  It's a Kindle book, of course, and I don't own a Kindle.  I guess I could just download it to my computer.  And I might! Go ahead and take advantage of this offer.  It's FREE!

Do you know about Flamingnet?  It's a book review site for teens.  A lot of the reviewers are teens, themselves.  It's fun to know what teens really think about the books they read.  And what they really think is usually, "Give us more books!"  So Flamingnet is my KBW for this Tuesday.

But back to Sprite - The book that inspired this post.  She's human.  She's sprite. And she has to save the world for humans and sprites.  It is a very popular formula.  Pick a magical creature.  Create a character who has mixed parentage - one human, one magical creature.  Now, put that character in a life or world threatening situation.  Voila!  A best seller.

Here is a partial catalog of magical creatures who have - according to current YA fiction - coupled with humans: gods, goddesses, fairies, naiads, demons, angels, vampires, werewolves, merpeople, sprites, zombies - well maybe not zombies.  And here are some of the paranormal creatures with whom teens have fallen in love: vampires, ghosts - lots of ghosts of many different types - werewolves, fairies, demons, angels, zombies - yes, zombies, my personal un-favorite - merpeople, wereowls, were-anything, gods, goddesses, demigods and demigoddesses.

I have not read anything about the sidhe.  But I am sure that somewhere there is a book in which a teen falls in love with - or discovers that one of his or her parents is - a member of the sidhe.  And let's not forget fauns, centaurs and other chimera; dragons, gryphons, and other mythical beasts.

The late, great Diana Wynne-Jones went a little further in this mixture of species.  Her Dark Lord of Derkholm dabbled in magical gene modification.  His children included griffins, winged humans (angels?) and humans.  Each child was a combination of his genes, his wife's genes and magical genes.  The children are all splendid characters, as evidenced in the follow up novel, The Year of the Griffin.  Man, I miss Diann Wynne-Jones.  Sigh.

YA authors around the globe raise silent prayers of thanks for the centuries of folklore they can mine for ideas.  Now, which magical creature can I research?  Where's my Bulfinch's Mythology?

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Oh my,  I have just gone through 112 pages of ads and articles on all the great stuff I missed at Book Expo America today.  Luckily, the articles did mention what will happen in Children's Books and Books for Teens for tomorrow.  Plus, I found some extra raffles to enter.  I love those raffles.  I never win but I know someone who does and SHE is going to BEA tomorrow, too.  So is the Hub.

We've got our backpacks and tote bags and our wheely suitcases and we expect to bring back loot and lots of great ideas about what to read - and buy - next.  So many great authors will be there signing books and just sharing the authorly love.  Mo Willems!  He has a NEW Pigeon book out.  I so hope I get to meet him because he is awesome.

As is John Green.  DFTBA, John!  I doubt that I will get within a city block of either John Green OR Libba Bray.  Sigh.  But just being under the same enormous roof is cool.  Maggie Stiefvater is rumored to be close by as well.  And Julie Kagawa and ...be still, my heart...EOIN COLFER!!!  I can't stand it.  And, there are more authors and books.  So many, many beautiful books.

Oh, look at the time!  I have to go over my "assignments".  The bus leaves at the very crack of dawn tomorrow. 

Before I go, let's revisit the Pigeon's very own webpage for KBWT.   Go to Boring Grown-Up stuff for videos that are totally NOT! (Boring OR just for Grown-Ups.)

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I know that Betsy Bird's A Fuse #8 Production has been featured here before - or at the very least mentioned.  Right now, she is intent on counting down the 100 Top Picture Books and the 100 Best Fiction for children, based on her most recent survey of school and children's librarians. 

This huge undertaking makes great reading, since Betsy not only gives her personal take on each book but a quote from one of the librarians who responded to this survey. 

Every day, Betsy will post 10 or so books from one of these lists until she gets all the way to #1.  Right now, she has reached #61 on the Best Children's Fiction list.  Some of my all time favorites have already been mentioned.   And some books I never read, too.  I like that.  I am always on the prowl for good kids' books, no matter when they were written.

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When looking for Kids' Books Websites, I usually visit a few search engines and put in terms like children's books, kids' books, reviews of kids books, etc.

Today I did something brilliant.  I borrowed links from my favorite KBWs.  Let others do the work, say I - at least, some of the time.

Enlarge your world by visiting Paper Tigers, a site that features books and authors from Southeast Asia and the Pacific Rim.  Find authors, illustrators, outreach projects, interviews and book reviews on this colorful site.

Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast - This blog is for us bigger people who love all things Kids-Books related.  Some reviews, some interviews, a bunch of awesome links, and some fun.  Check it out.

The Book-A-Day Almanac is excellent!  Every day, Anita Silvey, the blog's author does a lovely job of reviewing one children's book.  Silvey also posts little notes about things that happen each day as well.  This site is fun for readers of all ages.

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