- First things first: it’s not too late! You can still donate books to schools serving Navajo and Apache teens. I gave Chameleon by Charles R. Smith to one school, and Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers to the other. What did you send?
- Liz B reacts to a recent article on “problem parents” in YA lit. I don’t really have anything to add beyond “You tell ‘em, Liz!”
- A school district in Illinois is requiring that every student get a public library card. This really shouldn’t be a new and exciting idea, but I know how tough meaningful collaborations can be, and hooray for School District U-46 for going for it.
- Book Aunt has put together an exceptional annotated booklist on Tricksters in kids’ and YA lit. So much good stuff on here – and so much I’ve yet to read!
- I enjoyed The Horn Book’s short conversation with Rita Garcia-Williams. I especially liked hearing her first answer on how she kept the tight focus in her recent historical novel One Crazy Summer – she would repeat the phrase “Through Delphine’s eyes” every time she felt herself straying off into an interesting tangent. I think that tight focus is a big part of what makes One Crazy Summer such a wonderful middle-grade read.
- The lovely Edi at Crazy Quilts recently asked me a few questions as part of her celebration of school libraries – it was a pleasure chatting with such a dedicated school librarian!
- Shannon Hale always does an exceptional job of articulating why graphic novels are good and important for kids – and this time she ties it into a love of libraries, so I enjoyed reading it even more than usual
- A look at a few of the early kids-book ipad apps. I hope that this is just the beginning of the creativity that we’ll see on the first popular e-book platform that is really kidsbook-friendly. (Hat tip to Mitali Perkins)
- Totally sweet website design AND excellent tips for making your library genuinely patron-friendly? Oh yeah!
- Some statistics that refute the notion that certain sections of the population don’t have regular internet access because they don’t want it. (Do people actually think that in this day and age? Goodness, I hope not.) Also includes some interesting quotes on how dial-up is worse than no internet at all, and a very sad quote about families using the library for internet access.
- Great article on Henry Jenkins, who makes connections between fannish-ness and important literacy and learning skills. I can’t believe I’ve never heard of this guy before! This is a gap Add a Comment