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 International Holocaust Remembrance Day Today, January 27, 2013 In honor of the International Holocaust Remembrance Day, on January 27, 2013, the anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi death camp Auschwitz-Birkenau, dedicated this year to remembering the children who perished at the hands of the Nazis. In that vein, today we have the most awarded book in Canada, Hana’s …

5 Stars Don’t Feed the Boy by Irene Latham Illustrated by Stephanie Graegin Pages:  288     Ages: 8 to 12 ……………………. Back Cover:  No kid knows more about zoo life than Whit. That’s because he sleeps, eats and even attends home-school at the Meadowbrook Zoo. It’s one of the perks of having a mother who’s the [...]

5 stars Whoever Heard Of A Fird? Othello Bach Shann Hurst 60 Pages     Ages: 7+ ………….. Back Cover: If you haven’t heard of a fird, part fish, part bird, you don’t know that he’s looking for a head of fird. He wants to find out if he’s “firding” right. You see, Fird was raised by [...]

Title: Diary of a Wimpy Kid
Written & Illustrated by: Jeff Kinney
Ages: 10-up
Publisher: Amulet Books
ISBN-13: 978-0-8109-9313-6
Publication: April 2007

No wonder Diary of a Wimpy Kid has been nominated for a Kids’ Choice Award for Favorite Book. Author, Jeff Kinney immediately immerses you into the thoughts and actions of sixth grader, Greg Heffley. Greg’s antics wouldn’t be complete without his best friend, Rowley, who at times, Greg can’t stand.

Greg finds himself in the sea of middle grade students ranging from the small and ordinary to the ones who have muscles and are growing facial hair. Where is one to fit in?

“If it was up to me, grade levels would be based on height, not age. But then again, I guess that would mean kids like Chirag Gupta would still be in the first grade.”

Greg finds himself writing in his journal about his life as a sixth grader and how to fit in. “Just don’t expect me to be all ‘Dear Diary’ this and ‘Dear Diary’ that. That’s for girls.” Rowley begins to make strides in popularity and Greg latches on to bring himself popularity, which kicks off a domino effect that tests their friendship in hilarious fashion.

This laugh out loud book is a must read not only for boys but for anyone who has gone through the tribulations of middle school.

Visit Jeff Kinney at: http://www.wimpykid.com

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Reviewed by Donna M. McDine
For more articles, tips, and resources for children’s writing, visit Donna’s blog.

Conversing in the blogosphere is an art form. Sometimes, I feel as if I'm at a huge party, and there are clusters of fascinating, nattily dressed people filling the multi-leveled hip club, with music thumping and lights flashing, and I'm running (in my sensible tennis shoes) from one cool conversation to the next. I'm running because, instead of talking about Spice Girl's baby, these people are talking books, and writing, and art. (The Eternal Conversation, right?)

At first, I tried to handle my rounds alone. Then I hired the much younger----but with such cute glasses!---Mr. Google Reader to assist me. Great! Now I could follow multiple conversations at once. The only problem was that (and here the party gets weird) if I actually spoke during one of these conversations, instead of just sagely nodding at the fringes, then I had to keep dashing back to that group of people to see if anyone had replied. Which was often days later. (How I would love to hear Dorothy Parker handle this kind of conversational time travel.)

A breakthrough occurred when I discovered I could subscribe to all comments as well as all original posts. (And just so you know, you can do that for the conversations here by clicking on the link "Subscribe to all comments" at the right.) And joy! joy! some blogs even offered to only tap me on the shoulder when a particularly scintillating conversation had new thoughts. (That would be found here by clicking on the title of a post, and then scrolling to the bottom for the link marked "Subscribe to: post comments.")

And here's where I need your help: I can't find these links for some of the wildly wonderful, totally fascinating, non-probation anklet conversations I want to follow. Is this not available in some blogging software? Or is it an option the blogger turns on or off? Please, I'm begging you, enlighten me. Because I really want to ditch my sensible tennies and slip on my three-inch bronze snakeskin heels.