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 There were few surprises at the Grammy Awards this year, including Adele taking home (six awards, winning in every category in which she was nominated. The Grammys tried to reach out to a young audience with a showcase of electronica music, which... Read the rest of this post

First Book’s National Book Bank team just got home from Pittsburgh, where they boxed, labeled and shipped 400,000 books to kids in need all over the country, from Jacksonville to Santa Monica.

That’s a whole lot of books – five tractor-trailers full, to put it in perspective. The books all came from Disney Publishing Worldwide, and included some great titles, like ‘Island of the Blue Dolphins’, ‘The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks’, ‘Caterpillar’s Springtime Day’, and books starring characters beloved by many children, like Handy Manny, Mickey Mouse and Hannah Montana.

Shipping that many books in less than a week is a big job, and we couldn’t possibly have done it without the help of some great friends who came out to lend a hand. Volunteers like the local high school Key Club, college students, a Girl Scout troop (they were amazing on sticker duty) and service-minded individuals of all stripes. Not to mention the team from a local KPMG office, whose accounting skills were put to excellent use. KPMG is a major supporter of First Book, and we can always count on their local offices to help us out.

And, perhaps most importantly, our hosts at World Vision, a truly inspirational organization that provides badly-needed resources to children and families in the United States and around the world who have been victims of natural disasters, famine, war and disease. Because First Book has no warehouses, we rely on donated space to temporarily house the books donated to us by generous publishers, and World Vision stepped up to help out in Pittsburgh. We couldn’t have asked for a nicer, friendlier, more helpful bunch of people to work with.

The best part of our book distributions, though, is getting to meet some of the local schools and programs who take our books back to the children that they serve. They always thank us when we fill their trucks and station wagons with cartons of new books, but we tell them that they’re the ones who deserve the thanks. It’s a privilege to help them in the heroic work that they do to each and every day.

So hats off to Pittsburgh. We couldn’t have done it without you!

Horror has captured the heart (of Americans, with a plethora of new shows about vampires, werewolves, ghosts, and zombies. The CW announced that it bought a script for a zombie drama titled "Awakening," which will be geared toward young women.... Read the rest of this post

Summer Stock: Promoting Literacy in the Community
The Texas Woman’s University drama department is partnering with a local Girl Scout troop to promote literacy and the art of theater. This summer program engages kids through activities which are designed around beloved children’s book classics.

10 Weeks of Fun from RIF
Check out this great reading calendar from Reading Is Fundamental which includes fun learning activities for families to enjoy throughout the summer. This calendar incorporates creative learning ideas with everyday summer fun.

Book Reviews Delivered to Your iPhone
Kids Book Review is a new application for the iPhone which allows users to view book reviews on the go, helping shoppers make informed decisions about their book purchases. This also gives users the ability to post books to their Twitter or Facebook accounts to share reviews with friends.

125th Anniversary of “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”
Elmira, the city where Mark Twain penned his famous work, is celebrating the 125th Anniversary of the release of “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.” Excerpts from the book will be read aloud and the first 125 kids will receive a free copy of the book.

How Learning to Read Changes Your Brain
This article details findings of an ancient ability to recognize both an object and its mirror image as identical and how this affects learning to read. Confusing similar letters, an error once assumed to indicate dyslexia, turns out to be a common mistake of learning.

Alloy's first official digital slate (Newly formed digital division Banks & Reed announce three original teen web series coming this summer and fall. This includes an adaptation of YA book Hollywood is like High School with Money [pictured here]... Read the rest of this post

BTS embraces show-and-tell shopping (As we mentioned last week in our BTS roundup, JC Penney announced today that video "hauls" will be a major component of their BTS campaign The sponsored vids will go up this week on jcp.com/teen as well as... Read the rest of this post

MTV buys Social Express (marking its debut in the social gaming space and stirring talk of an eventual publishing platform for independent game developers..and JerseyshoreVille jokes. Plus, as part of a promotional campaign from Zynga, actual... Read the rest of this post

MTV launches 'A Thin Line' (a "new multi-year initiative to empower America's youth to identify, respond to and stop the spread of digital abuse." The launch coincides with the release of the AP/MTV Digital Abuse Study that found more than half of... Read the rest of this post

Last week we took the train up from NYC to Albany - following the banks of the Hudson, so a lovely ride even though it was misty and raining for the first hour.

We were picked up in Albany and taken to the home of the Girl Scout coordinator who organised the Nim's Island patch program - and what a wonderful time we had! It was great to meet the people behind this program, and to see some of the work behind it: I met the woman who had engineered the spyglass design that the girls followed to create their own spyglasses - and I saw all the Nim related toys that sat on the desk to keep inspiration up.

Best of all, despite the tricky timing of end of school concerts etc, I was able to meet some of Nim's girl scout fans, which was very special. I now even have Nim's official membership card, safely tucked into my wallet. (Won't that confuse a pickpocket!) And a special thank you to the troupe who, remembering that I'd said in an interview that the autumn colours were something I missed most about Canada, gave me a dish towel patterned with beautiful autumn leaves.

Actually I can't choose 'best of all' - because there was also the huge feast, with Acadian baked beans, incredible barbecue, and strawberry shortcake... and the warmth, laughter and family fun of our hosts.

And, in a strange twist of fate, our host's home, built in 1820, was very similar to the home we lived in when I finished high school in Nova Scotia, and that I based the house on in The House at Evelyn's Pond. We even slept in a bedroom that was in exactly the same place as my bedroom in that house.

Sometimes I feel extraordinarily lucky at the places my books have taken me, and the people they've brought into my life.

Ah, I feel like a person again. It takes me a whole day to recover from one of those camping trips. I realized today that it’s not just the lost sleep, but that it takes time to shake off the stress off being in charge. Being a supremely unorganized person, the lead-up to these Girl Scout Encampments is torture. Packing for me, my two daughters, and the troop — remembering the forms, maps, special activities, and supplies — is exhausting. Once we’re there, I have a great time and I’m laid back about whatever happens. Someone falls in the river? Huge spider inside the tent? Inadvertently inviting a large and somewhat odd troop to join our campfire? Hey, teens can change clothes, spiders can be swept out, and prankster girls who decide to scream “Vampire!” at a passing troop learn their lesson when that troop thinks that they yelled “Campfire!” and comes to join them. We all had a good time in spite of the rain, but it was good to see flush toilets again. Really good.

Now, I didn’t get back to the Summer Blog Blast Tour yesterday, so today I’ve got both schedules. Looks like I’ve got a lot of interview reading to do today.

Monday’s SBBT Schedule:

• Andrew Mueller at Chasing Ray
  
• Kekla Magoon at Fuse #8
  
• Carrie Jones at Writing & Ruminating
  
• Amber Benson at Bildungsroman
  
• Greg van Eekhout at Shaken & Stirred
  

• Maya Ganesan at Miss Erin
  
• Amber Benson at lectitans
  
• Carolyn Hennesy at Bildungsroman
  
• Jo Knowles at HipWriterMama
  
• Sherri Winston at Finding Wonderland
  

I have to do a ridiculously abridged post because I need to be at work shortly, and yet cannot shirk my posting responsibility entirely. So...

From my Facebook update, I can let you know that I survived the camping trip. No rain the first evening and night. One thunderstorm the second afternoon, then rain the second evening and overnight. So, I’m seeing the rain gauge as half full.

From the Summer Blog Blast Tour, I can tell you that it starts today with many great author at many great blogs that I don’t have the time to list and code for you. In the meantime, I’ll point you to the master of ceremonies, Chasing Ray with the full schedule.

From the 48 Hour Book Challenge, sign-ups are going great and will continue up to the last minute... because “Last Minute” is my middle name. (Which makes filling out official forms a real bitch.)

And last minute is exactly how I’m leaving for work now.

JoBros deliver the tween dream in person (making a surprise appearance on the opening night of their 3-D "rockumentary." But even with triple the hearthrob power,  the boys couldn't dethrone the reigning Disney princess at the box office ) (USA... Read the rest of this post

Girl Scouts and Windows launch online safety site (written by and for teens, LMK: Life Online aims to empower girls to teach their peers about managing a digital identity) - Common Sense Media Awards (honors standouts in  Kids' Media who have... Read the rest of this post

Without a doubt, the Hispanic and Latino populations are the fastest-growing minority groups in America today. Brands looking to connect with and effectively market to these cultures must step up to the challenge of understanding their youth. An... Read the rest of this post

After I got back from the Kidlitosphere Conference at 6:00 a.m. on Monday morning, and after a full week of work, blogging, and activities, I got to go to Girl Scout Camp. Oh joy.

Now I like nature, but mostly as viewed through a screened window — as God intended it.¹ However, I make sure our troop goes camping because I believe that we should all stretch our comfort zones.

The first word I heard about the camp was not promising, but the trip was a wonderful experience. We kept a laid-back approach and gave the girls freedom to explore and fall — literally, in the actual creek water. Here’s our weekend in a series of haiku. (Oh, Anastasia’s got today’s Poetry Friday round-up.)

Mice? In the cabins?
You have to be kidding me.
Should have picked the tents.

Finally let loose.
teens buck sophistication
to play on the rocks.

Into our silence
the creek babbles, birds chatter
the forest leaves speak.

Taking off our shoes
The cold water feels so good
On our tired feet.

Nine middle-school girls
and three leaders in one room.
Sleep proves elusive.

Morning hike reward
a sun-dappled waterfall
Complete enchantment.

Many days I feel like I’m trudging along, doing what everyone else is doing. I’m making coffee, taking the kids to school, folding laundry, and so on. But at 11:00 a.m. on Wednesday, it occurred to me that nobody in America, maybe even in the world, was systematically pulling the googly eyes off yarn bugs and re-gluing them. Apparently, “tacky glue” isn’t the same as Elmer’s glue — which the girl who came up with the Girl Scout swap had told me — but pshaw, it had to work because I didn’t feel like going home and getting the “right” kind of glue. Lesson learned.

I’ve been so busy with all this GS stuff and school stuff and stuff stuff, that I’ve missed the boat on a few things. I totally spaced out on submitting for The September Carnival of Children’s Literature over at Charlotte’s Library, but at least I can read the great posts there — as can you.

In the category of Other Great Things I Didn’t Contribute To This Month, the September issue of The Edge of the Forest is up with exciting features, as well as interviews, reviews, and much, much more. Take the time to check it out.

I haven’t made time to talk about the upcoming Cybils, but the nominating and judging panels are now up, and I’ll be serving on the picture book nominating committee. I’m looking forward to the opportunity to find the best five books out of all the 2007 picture books nominated. Come to think of it, that’s sounding like a lot of work. Anyway, nominations for the best books of 2007 will open on October 1.

If you’ve been in a KidLit-free cave, then you may have missed the wonderful brainstorm of 7-Imp, where bloggers will help promote the snowflakes made for auction for Robert’s Snow for Cancer’s Cure. I’ve got Mo Willems (naturally) on Halloween (if you’ve seen his snowflake, then it makes sense), but that’s all I’ll say about that — for now.

I have some breaking news. Jenni Holm is profiled in today’s Washington Post’s KidsPost section. It’s a nice article about her mentioning her Babymouse books, and one of my 2007 favorites, Middle School is Worse Than Meatloaf. She’ll be at the National Book Festival this Saturday with tons of other great authors.

I will not be there. I will be camping with my Girl Scout troop and handing out yarn bug swaps, now with non-detaching eyes. Sigh.

Being the proud mother that I am, I had to post a pic of my heart-shaped cake mentioned in my Valentine's post:



The kids were amazed and delighted. I love how easy-to-please children can be! What took me very little time and effort was greeted with squeals of joy.

Tonight was the annual Girl Scouts' Father-Daughter Dance. This is Chloe's first year to attend, and she was so excited. I took her to the salon yesterday and had a few inches of her hair trimmed off in honor of the occasion. Normally, she wears her hair in a tight braid, but we blew it out and put a pretty bow in it for the dance:



Here's a proud Ever-Supportive, about to escort his daughter to her first dance:



Sigh! Now I completely get why my mother made such a to-do over these things.

This was especially poignant for me because, as I posted on sartorias 's blog tonight, my father was killed when I was only a few months older than my daughter is now. I never attended any father-daughter dances with him. When Chloe was born, and I mean during the actual HAPPENING of her birth, I reached up and grabbed my husband by the collar and yanked him down to me and said, "Don't you EVER leave her!" I pray he never does, because I know how much I've missed out on.




Here's to you, Daddy—and your fortunate granddaughter! And here's to all the Ever-Supportives out there escorting their baby-girls to the Father-Daughter Dances!

XO Candie