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Read it here Teaching Kids About Life Through Books

and also in ITalian Read by me!

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The Italian translation and multi-media presentation of The Monster on Top of the Bed. In this book Suzy discovers that she never has to be afraid again of monsters lurking in her closet or under her bed. The words and the spoken presentation are in Italian. There is an English translation of the words on the bottom of the page.

The e-book "The monster on top of the bed" is coming out.
Not there yet but soon.

The cd will also have a booklet and here I post the pictures I made of the mock-up I made of the booklet.
I've match all pages, argh what a stress.
But I love it!

Donald Ritchie, author of Reporting from Washington: The History of the Washington Press Corps, Our Constitution, and The Congress of the United States: A Student Companion, has been Associate Historian of the United States Senate for more than three decades. In the article below, inspired by the memory of Fran Lewine, Ritchie looks at how women fought to write the news.

So much attention has gone to the news of a woman frontrunner for her party’s presidential nomination that it has obscured the parallel story about how much of that news is being reported by women. Not long ago, women were struggling to gain their place in both politics and journalism. One the pioneers in that effort, Fran Lewine, covered six administrations at the White House as an Associated Press correspondent, and spent the rest of her career as an editor and producer at CNN, where she was still working at the time of her death, on January 19, at age 86. (more…)

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Donald Ritchie, author of Reporting from Washington: The History of the Washington Press Corps, Our Constitution, and The Congress of the United States: A Student Companion, has been Associate Historian of the United States Senate for more than three decades. In the post below he looks at the fall of newspapers.

In her end-of-the-year column, The Washington Post’s ombudsman, Deborah Howell, reviewed some dismal statistics: since she started in her job in 2005, the Post’s daily circulation has declined by 45,000. At the same time, the Post’s web site registered a 15% increase in viewers. A decade earlier, when the Post first launched its online news service, publisher Donald Graham summed up the imperative in three words: “classifieds, classifieds, classifieds,” but the drift toward news on the Internet has drained away larger retail advertising as well. Newspapers across the country have reported similar slumps in circulation and advertising revenue. (more…)

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Check out my latest post on the new research from Harvard's JFK School of Government about teens and news over at the Huffington Post.

There is often the common perception out there that young people don't care about the news -- in part because they're not reading the newspaper or watching the evening news. The reality is that they are still consuming news just not in traditional... Read the rest of this post

Little Grandson (LG)is out of school for a week or so before beginning the free summer school provided by the state for pre-kindergarteners next week, so we had the opportunity to have him for the day while his mom was at class.


This morning I golfed, but he had fun helping Papa wash the car, or more likely spraying him... and after LG helped me make lunch we had a variety of 'projects' to complete. Started by making puppets out of paint stirrers and plastic bags...which of course generated several puppet shows. AND we even wrote a script...he wrote his lines (definitely does not need pre-k, but he likes school) and I wrote mine.(Maybe he'll be a writer someday, too!) Then we put together the kite he got for his fifth birthday a couple of weeks ago, took it to the field down the road and flew it, and then went 'exploring' in the woods at the other side of the field. When we got home, he read me a story and then I read to him...a very good day. We get him again on Thursday, too.


I continue to work on marketing...thanks, Kate, for your suggestions. Also am working on a 'Meet the Author' kit for schools, and on editing the press release my publisher sent me. Found a site yesterday that has all the newspapers in the country listed, so I'll have plenty to choose from when mailing the release out...http://www.50states.com/news/ . Now all I have to do is to sit down and DO all this stuff... Read the rest of this post

The New York Times weighs in on the disappearing print book review in Are Book Reviewers Out of Print, and includes a discussion of blogs. A number of high profile lit blogs are mentioned.

Motoko Rich's coverage is very balanced; noting, for instance, that what is found on blogs is "often on subjects not generally covered by newspaper book sections." Being as I am firmly in the "we are different, neither is better or worse" camp, I'm pleased with the article for the most part. (Also, for the record? I think it's a shame that newspapers are cutting back on print reviews. Bread and cheese, people; don't tell me one is better than the other. On their own they are each good; and smart people can make awesome grilled cheese sandwiches. But enough of my really bad metaphors.)

Alas, there is the inevitable basement quote: "'Newspapers, by having institutional backing, have a responsible relationship not only to their publisher but to their readership,'” Mr. Ford said, “'in a way that some guy sitting in his basement in Terre Haute maybe doesn’t.'"

Here's the thing, tho; the article is balanced, many believe as Ford does, and Rich did not use the money quote to lead the article, title the article, etc. Whether or not one agrees with Ford's statement, it's his opinion.

And I'm not some guy in a basement in Terre Haute -- I'm a girl in Jersey, in the living room in my PJs.