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Yes, sir! We have the first comment of the new year! This is from cyber kid 303. Let's hear what he liked:

cyber kid 303 has left a new comment on your post "Don't Forget Our Contest!":

Swear to Howdy by Wendelin Van Draanen An over all good book, Swear to Howdy, is a adventurous book, but also sad. Rusty & Joey, 2 adventure-wanting, full fledge pranksters, pull pranks such as putting beetles in their sisters' cokes. They also shot Joey's cat by mistake while shooting squirrels with a .22 rifle (a gun). Each chapter is a different story so it doesn't matter what order you read it in (except for the last chapter).

Very well done, cyber kid 303! I really want to read this book now. Come in and get your free book! You are also tied with Cab, who wrote one comment, (posted on 12-31-07) for our free T-shirt. Let's keep them coming!
Carl
PS--Wendelin Van Draanen was at our Novello Festival Book Brunch last October. Did you get to see her?
PPS--Are you really part cyber and part kid? How much of each are you?

Don't forget--the boy who sends us the most comments about books by January 21 wins a free T-shirt that looks like this:

If you write for young people, consider this LJ post a big, fat thank you note (virtual chocolates and ice cream, too). I just finished reading my 7th graders' final exams. I ask them to write an essay reflecting on how they've grown as readers, writers, and human beings this year. Here's a quote from K...

"In the beginning of the year, I didn't like to read at all. But then my teacher showed me all these books that were for me, and I couldn't stop reading."

Books that were for her.  Written just for her.  Or at least it felt that way.  She went on to talk about Sonya Sones, Sarah Dessen, Deb Caletti, and Nancy Werlin -- voices that spoke to her over the past ten months. 

And K wasn't the only one who named names as she reflected on books that made a difference this year.  My kids talked about finding themselves in the characters of Pete Hautman, Janet Tashjian, Jack Gantos, Laurie Halse Anderson, Lisa Yee, Sharon Creech, Jerry Spinelli, Wendelin Van Draanen, David Lubar, Cynthia Kadohata, Mal Peet, and Walter Dean Myers.  They wrote about being challenged by M.T. Anderson, Richard Preston, and Markus Zusak.  They wrote fondly about escaping into the worlds of Margaret Peterson Haddix, Christopher Paolini, and JK Rowling.  And they reflected on walking a mile in someone else's shoes as they read Gene Luen Yang, Cynthia Lord, Will Hobbs, Jennifer Roy, and Joseph Bruchac.

I write for kids.  I know that some days, it feels like you're alone with your computer, and even your computer doesn't  like you very much. So I thought I'd share K's reflection on her year of reading.  We all need to realize when we write, we're writing for someone important.  Someone like K, who's waiting for a book that's just for her, just for him.  

If you write for kids, that's the work you're doing every day.  You may never get to read the end-of-the-year essays, but you should know that you make a difference, and you're appreciated.

Fans of Shredderman should be pleased. Tonight marks Nickelodeon's premier of the Shredderman movie. Shredderman Rules is directed by Savage Steve Holland (really wish I were making that one up there), Tim Meadows aaaaaand . . . . no one else. Let me know how it was, kids.



They've bumped Ned up from the 4th grade to the 8th grade. But considering the changes we just heard about in the Dark Is Rising movie, I'm not gonna be all that picky.