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These are the days when libraries get frantic parents looking for a Halloween book to read at their child's school and finding that all the books are gone. This may be you. But no fear, there are some great monster books around that will fill the Halloween gap and that are often overlooked by parents heading only to the shelf with the big pumpkin sign.

Where's My Mummy?
by Carolyn Crimi, illustrated by John Manders
When Baby Mummy heads outside for a late-night game of "Hide and Shriek," he ends up searching for Mama Mummy in the deep, dark woods. Different monsters advise the little wrapped guy to go to home, but he trudges on unafraid, until a tiny creature gives him a big scare. But Mummy - or mommy - is there to give him comfort and take him to bed. The wonderful illustrations have just the right comical touch to take the edge off the spooky subject, and the story adds just enough suspense to the fun. Great for preschoolers.

Inside the Slidy Diner
by Laurel Snyder, illustrated by Jaime Zollars
Edie is trapped inside the Slidy Diner for stealing a lemon drop, and gives a youngster a tour of the scary restaurant where patrons eat pig's heads and pies are garnished with eyeballs. This is definitely a book for the gross-out crowd, who will delight in the bug-filled flooded restrooms, the wall-mounted huge cockroach, and the most-questionable "chocolate milk." Detailed illustration supports the story with odd-looking patrons and clever visual jokes. Gruesome, creepy, and loads of fun for the school-age set.

Frankenstein Makes a Sandwich
Frankenstein Takes the Cake
by Adam Rex
For some reason, people insist on giving these books to their preschoolers and then denouncing them because their precious tots aren't interested in these poems about various monsters. The smaller ones somehow fail to grasp the cultural and literary references or get the jokes. They aren't wooed by the detailed and varied artistic styles. So clearly, these parents claim, these books are not all that. HAH! And I say again, HAH! While shaking my head, of course, and noting that just because a book has pictures, it does

Today I shared my 54th and final post at Booklights, a PBS Parents blog run by Gina Montefusco (shown below in the lower right-hand corner - photo taken at KidLitCon 2009). Booklights started in April of 2009, with a goal of promoting the joy of reading with kids.

My original co-bloggers at Booklights were Pam Coughlan (lower left) and Susan Kusel (upper right). We were later joined by Terry Doherty (top center) as a regular contributor, and Susan Thomsen (not shown)and Ann Neely (bottom center) as occasional contributors.

Blogging for PBS was a great opportunity, and Gina and my co-bloggers made it a wonderful experience. I'm going to miss it! I have links to some of my favorite Booklights posts here. And I have a copy of that KidLitCon photo on my desk every day. Farewell, Booklights!

If you're a regular reader of Wizards Wireless, you may have noticed the glaring lack of posts here for a long, long time. That's because I've been blogging over at Booklights for PBS Parents.

Sadly, Booklights is coming to a close. But while I'll miss writing over there, I'm also really excited about writing here again.

And for you comic strip fans, I've also started a new blog called Comic Strip Art.

Welcome back and stay tuned! I've got a stack of wonderful books I can't wait to write about.

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Today at PBS Booklights I’m sharing thirteen chapter books that take place during the summer. I tried to include a mix of styles, genres, and characters, but in general, I went with a lighter tone in the books I selected. There were many more titles that could have been included, and I think I’ll do one more list of tween/teen selections. I hesitate to commit because making each of these lists took a long time — much longer than I thought it would.

Anyway, last week I wondered here if there were an ideal way to indicate race and culture in very short reviews. This week I come with a new problem that perhaps you — yes, you, author person — can solve: I couldn’t find many summer stories that feature kids of color. Can someone get on this, please?

Oh, and here’s last week’s list of Summer Picture Books again — because, as I mentioned, it took a long time to make so I need to get like, double credit for it.

Today I’m sharing thirteen of my favorite picture books about summer over at PBS Booklights. I worked hard to make a list that showed the many different ways that kids enjoy summer, even though I found I could easily find that many books on the beach alone. As a beach lover, I worked against instinct to include only two, maybe three choices that covered the shore. Maybe the next list will be all beach books.

I also worked to incorporate diversity into the list. I had a number of books in mind that featured children of color, and at the same time I still wanted to show a variety of summer settings. I did come across an issue that I’d like to put up for discussion. With a one-sentence summary to work with, should every book that features a child of color be identified as such? On the one hand, I’d like to make sure that people know that there are books showing African American children. On the other hand, I don’t label all the other books as featuring Caucasian children. What makes sense to you?

In one book, I reference the Spanish words in the text, which fairly implies a Hispanic family. Another book shows a visit to India, which establishes a multicultural title. But I handled the three books about African American children differently and without knowing which is most correct. In one book, Come On, Rain! I didn’t mention it at all other than that it was an urban setting. In Think Cool Thoughts, I didn’t mention race, but I did include a picture of the cover. In Summer Sun Risin’, I did say that it was an African American family because I felt like people might not expect that in a book about a farm.

So my question to you is how do you think race should be addressed in a quick review?

I’m still recovering from the 48 Hour Book Challenge, with emails to write, packages to prepare, and books to clean off of my living room floor. I seem to have attacked the challenge with the organization of a teen getting ready for a big date — tossing books like T-shirts all over the room in search of the right one. I did well, in that I hit a run of eight great books. Amazing! But now I have to put everything back in order. Wah.

I do have a post up at PBS Booklights on books about bedtime. They aren’t the newest titles, and maybe not my absolute, all-time favorites, but some strong choices. Head over and add your suggestions to the comments.

This weekend I’ll be spending some time on Bloggiesta — writing up reviews (yes, of all those 48HBC books) and posts and presentations. If you need some time for blog housekeeping, head over to Maw Books to sign up.

Branding has come up again as a blogosphere topic. I saw it first with Maureen Johnson’s post — excuse me, manifesto — and I can just hear her whisper of “I am not a brand.” Important reading. Chasing Ray is taking up the topic, and wondering about the idea of blogger and author branding — like we can all be labeled like breakfast cereals. I’ll say that there are aspects of branding that are easy and helpful. My blog name, commenting name, and Twitter name are all MotherReader. No one has to think too hard about who I am in any of those places. But where I start to push back — or at least would ask us all to step back and think — is when I see that it is to publishers’ advantage that we be nicely, neatly branded. It certainly makes it easier for them to promote authors and to evaluate bloggers. And I’m not saying that it’s an absolute wrong. But is it good for the bloggers?

For two weeks, I've been trying to keep my blog work to a minimum with the idea that I would focus on the other areas of my life that need some TLC. So far, while I've been a relative success at staying offline, I've been pretty bad at tackling the house and catch-up chores that I needed to address. I blame my bad back. Mostly because it's easy to blame back problems. I could also blame the heat. Seriously, I love summer - but not in early April. We've been breaking records around here for both heat and pollen. So, I guess could blame my allergies too.

But in any case, I've popped online today to post my favorite poetry collections over at Booklights, with the plan to post some favorite single author titles in the next weeks. If you have a great collection book to share, head over and add it to the comments.

Trying to stay offline is not being helped by the continued countdown of the Top Children's Novels by Fuse#8. Today we are at number three and it's the first Harry Potter book, so what's left for the next two spots! Charlotte's Web, for sure, but what else? And since it is Thursday, does that mean we're going to have to wait all weekend to find out? Curses! Hold it. Has Diary of a Wimpy Kid been mentioned yet? Or The Lightning Thief? Did one of them beat the first Harry Potter? (Which is possible if you think that people may have picked a different Harry Potter to put on their list.) You see, there goes my day as I figure out which book it could be instead of simply waiting until tomorrow to find out. I say again, curses!

In other news, I'll let a post title sum it up: Making a Difference, One Book at a Time - the Guys Lit Wire & Operation Teen Book Drop Event for Navajo & Apache Teens. And since to explain would require me to keep coding the links, I'm going to let Colleen Mondor from Chasing Ray do that, along with the explanation of Operation TBD by readergirlz. But I will say that here's an opportunity to change a life by giving a book. Or to participate in a random act of kindness by dropping a book. Cool stuff.

And now for me, on to laundry, general cleaning, and finding my living room floor.

I was going to post yesterday, but was floored by the number of options available given the day. I mean, you had April Fool's Day, the first day of Poetry Month, Passover, Easter weekend, my Booklights day, and my Diary of a Wimpy Kid movie viewing. Too much!

So let's knock this out here. Fuse#8 got me with her April Fool's Day joke, but I'll just focus on the laughing and direct you the hysterical book I've been reading lately. It's not for kids, and may be a little blue for many adults, but boy is it funny. If you like comedy - and who doesn't - check out I Killed: True Stories from the Road from America's Top Comics.

Poetry Month is off and running among the blogs, and the schedule is available as its own page at KidLitosphere Central. Nice School Library Journal write-up too.

I was dying to embed the Steven Colbert video where he shows off the new Passover Plague puppets. Watch it at the thirteen minute mark (the second segment). We've been laughing about it all week. "I don't know, be alive."

For Easter, I was going to write about back-up bunny books that you could pick-up if you missed your holiday grab at the library. Then I realized that there were over three hundred picture books featuring rabbits at my local library, so I'm going to point to Beatrix Potter and leave it at that. I reserved my Booklights post for a shout-out to poetry month.

Also I saw Diary of a Wimpy Kid with my thirteen and ten year old daughters, and we all loved it. Laughed a lot and throughly enjoyed myself. The casting is excellent, and the film captures the feel of the book while expanding on it and making it feel stunningly realistic. The kids look like real kids. What kind of way is that to make a movie? (Pssst! Hollywood? An excellent way.)

I'm offline for a few days to enjoy the pleasant holiday weekend. Hope you have the sunshine that we have here. It's beginning to feel like... spring.

I'm still not feeling that great as I recover from a cold, but the show must go on. Well, at least at Booklights where I am sharing Easter books in a tradition generally associated with weddings. Namely, something old, something new, something borrowed, and something out-of-the-blue. Head over and give your favorite Easter books in the comments. Oh, and I share a bonus passage that should the Passover observers among us smile.

I had a hard time finding good Easter books, seeing that the majority of them seem to be the holiday experiences of Dora, SpongeBob, Clifford, Curious George, Fancy Nancy, Elmo, Mickey Mouse, and Strawberry Shortcake. Blecch. As I browsed Amazon, I also couldn't find a religious story that stood out as the go-to book on Easter.

Now at Christmas, I find the standard book/TV character holiday contingent along with a ton of good semi-secular stories that focus on Santa, trees, or gift-giving. But there are also many titles that focus on the birth of Christ, and do so in a way that make them good picture books, as well as religious books. I'm not seeing that with Easter books, and I've decided that from a step-back, story-telling, kidlit-reader perspective that Christmas has upper hand. I mean, there's a baby, animals, and presents which sounds a lot easier to make into a children's story than crucifixion and resurrection.

Come to think of it, there's the same problem for Passover books with the whole killing of the first-born child thing going on. Tough holidays to fictionalize. I guess. What do you think?

I'm anxiously awaiting the rest of Fuse#8's Top 100 Children's Novels as she finishes her move and arranges her Internet access. Four of my choices have already made the list, and I talk about them over at PBS Booklights. See them there and add your thoughts in the comments. I'm looking forward to the runoff between Charlotte's Web and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, though I'm betting that the series factor to the Rowling books will split the votes leaving Charlotte's Web to take the number one spot. What do you think?

I'm apologetic for not mentioning the upcoming Book Blogger Convention in May. This is not - repeat, not - KidLitCon 2010 which will take place in Minneapolis in late October. It is however, a fantastic opportunity to stretch your comfort zone and meet other book bloggers perhaps outside our wonderful kidlitosphere community. It is also now affiliated with Book Expo America such that registering for the conference gets you into BEA with a free press pass without having to convince BEA that you are indeed a book blogger, not "Book Industry Professional." The keynote speaker is YA Author Maureen Johnson, and you'll see our peeps Betsy Bird of Fuse#8 and Terry Doherty of The Reading Tub on panels. Check out the Book Blogger Convention website for more information and to register.

I'm astonished how quickly February raced by, dumping me in March with piles of melting snow to navigate and stacks of books to review. And I still can't find my Shutterfly 2010 calendar. Or for that matter, my living room floor. So excuse me if I've been less-than-present online. This too shall pass.

We are closing in on the final winners for the Cybils. So exciting! For my category, Fiction Picture Books, I first posted at Booklights with the three titles I thought most likely to win a Caldecott. And I was right on two of them. Yes! Today at Booklights I'm sharing three more titles from the finalist list - one serious, one silly, and one downright dangerous. The seventh title I actually wrote about in December as a book that I was giving my three year old niece. I'm sharing that review here today as an appetizer to my other Cybils reviews. Plus because I love the book.

Jeremy Draws a Monster by Peter McCarty is one of my favorites of 2009, though it seems to have slipped under the radar for many. I didn't think the amazing message contained within was too subtle, but maybe it did escape many readers who looked at the surface and saw a simple, light story. It's a shame, because people missed one of the better combinations of art, story, and message that I've ever seen. In the simply written and illustrated book, Jeremy stays in his room, never goes out, and draws pictures. And one day, with his special crayon, he draws a monster. The monster is demanding and Jeremy has to keep working to satisfy it. He's relieved when it goes out for the day. But can things end that easily? No. Only when Jeremy takes an active role in getting rid of his monster does he find a chance to be happy. Young kids will enjoy the story - especially as you read in the cranky monster's voice - but can also absorb the deeper meaning within. Hopefully the adult readers will too. In my own family, after all enjoying this book, we've taken to saying, "you draw your own monster." And we now see that you can't feed it or ignore it, but you have to tackle it. An amazing message wrapped in a charming book with engaging illustrations. Not to be missed.

I think this book resonated with me so strongly because I have people close to me who create their own monster of loneliness or fear, and don't realize that they can't give in to it or ignore it and expect it to go away. It's a lesson that I wish we could all absorb when we are young and open, because it's so much harder to change when you're older and rigid. This weekend we have another snowstorm heading our way, and I'm going to try very hard to tackle my monster - clutter! I've certainly fed it, and ignored it, but I need to do something about it. What monster will you take on this month?

This week’s children’s literacy and reading news round-up, brought to you by Jen Robinson’s Book Page and Scrub-a-Dub-Tub, a Reading Tub blog, is now available at the Reading Tub. This week Terry Doherty and I have collected plenty of content for you about literacy & reading-related events; literacy and reading programs and research; 21st century literacies; and grants, sponsorships & donations.

Terry begins with a mini-roundup of Kidlitosphere posts relevant to the situation in Haiti. I especially liked this one: "At the Reading Zone, Sarah Mulhern offers some suggestions on how to use life’s events and classroom tools to create teachable moments. “We need to grab teachable moments and broaden our students’s world views. We need to teach them to be global citizens.”"

There's also an interesting 21st Century Literacies article "about Deanna Isley, a third-grade teacher at Burnley-Moran Elementary. Isley secured a $5,221 grant from the city to purchase 19 Kindles and $300 in books. She uses the Kindles as a tool to complement her other work with the students."

Just in case the regular literacy roundup doesn't have enough news for you, I have some additional links related to raising readers in my Literacy 'Lights from the Kidlitosphere post at Booklights this morning. For example:

At Kidliterate, Melissa urges parents not to rush into reading the Harry Potter books to their young children. She says: "If you are reading HP to your kids before you have read them the RAMONA books, LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE, the FUDGE books, most of Cynthia Rylant, A CRICKET IN TIMES SQUARE, STUART LITTLE, and most of Roald Dahl, just to name a fraction of the available books, then your kids are not ready for HP. Shorter books do not equal bad. It is okay to finish a read-aloud quickly. It is okay to tell your child that they are not old enough for HP yet." She also offers a great list of read-alouds that are appropriate for six to eight year olds. I agree with Melis

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Today at Booklights I’m sharing three of the Cybils Fiction Picture Book finalists. At least one of these will be on the Caldecott list — mark my words.

Tomorrow begins Comment Challenge 2010. Look to the FAQs for all the info, and join us in our community venture.

This weekend is Bloggiesta, hosted by Maw Books. It’s a chance to spend some time improving your blog, catching up on your reviews, and taming your Google Reader.

Next week is National Delurking Week, so plan on coming out of the woodwork and making yourself known.

Of course, we’re continuing with Freeze Your Tail Off Month, brought to the United States straight from the Arctic. Lay your bets now that the cold front will be used to dispute global warming.

Yesterday, Mary Lee and Franki from A Year of Reading hosted a Kidlitosphere-wide celebration of outgoing National Ambassador for Young People's Literature Jon Scieszka. You can find my appreciation post for Mr. Scieszka at Booklights. But do stop by A Year of Reading to find links to dozens of other posts, all celebrating Scieszka, reading and children's literacy in general.

Today, Franki and Mary Lee shared Jon Scieska's response to this blogfest. Here's my favorite part:

"I am stunned with gratitude. This is exactly why I love our world of kids' books – the amazing bunch of people in it."

Can't argue with that! But do click through to read the whole thing.  

Today, the new National Ambassador was announced. Katherine Paterson will succeed Jon Scieszka. The New York Times has a detailed profile of Ms. Paterson. I've read many of Katerine Paterson's books, most recently Bread and Roses, Too (reviewed here). I adore both book and movie versions of Bridge to Terabithia (though I think that the book is better), and I'm quite fond of The Great Gilly Hopkins. She has chosen "Read for Your Life" as the theme of her platform as Ambassador. I can't wait to see what she will accomplish as our second National Ambassador for Young People's Literature.

This week’s children’s literacy and reading news round-up, brought to you by Jen Robinson’s Book Page and Scrub-a-Dub-Tub, a Reading Tub blog, is now available at the Reading Tub. (Actually, it was available yesterday, but I was away from my computer.) This week Terry Doherty and I have collected plenty of content for you about literacy & reading-related events; literacy and reading programs and research; 21st century literacies; and grants, sponsorships & donations.

Although the two weeks over Christmas and New Year's were relatively quiet on the news front, Terry managed to find quite a few stories of interest. These range from the finalists in a writing contest for kids from MrsP.com to Bookstore Night in Buenos Aires to a Classroom on Wheels. Fun stuff all around! Check out the Reading Tub for the details.

Wishing you all a New Year full of wonderful children's literacy news.

I have a new post up today at Booklights, the sixth installment in my Tips for Growing Bookworms series. Here's the gist:

"Read yourself, and model an appreciation for reading. It's all very well to SAY that books and reading are important. But what kids notice is what you DO. If you turn on the TV during every free moment, and never have time to go to the library or the bookstore, your kids are unlikely to turn to books themselves."

I close with a recommendation to set a good example for your kids by curling up with a good book. I mean, how can you go wrong with that?

Happy reading! Terry Doherty and I will be back next Monday with a new installment of the Children's Literacy Roundup.