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Two of our favorite children’s book authors, Rick Riordan and James Patterson, will be onstage together for the first time, at Lincoln Center in New York City tomorrow night. The two authors will read from their latest titles (including exclusive first looks) and answer questions from their fans. Al Roker, a longtime literacy advocate and co-host of the Today show, will moderate the evening.

If this sounds awesome to you, but you don’t live in New York, dry your tears! The event will be streamed live online at www.rickandjameslive.com, and fans will be able to submit questions for the authors.

We’re excited about this event, not just because Rick Riordan and James Patterson have done so much to help First Book over the years, but because the evening’s hosts, our friends at Little, Brown Books for Young Readers and Disney Publishing Worldwide, are donating 100% of the proceeds to First Book. So this will not only be a great evening, it will help First Book get books into the hands of kids from low-income neighborhoods around the country.

Algonquin Books has launched the Algonquin Books Club. The publisher has chosen twenty-five paperback titles from its list, building a readers guide for each book.

Here’s more from the site: “We’ll be featuring four Algonquin Book Club selections a year for dynamic literary events held around the country and simultaneously webcast on our site. For each event, an Algonquin author will be interviewed by a notable writer.”

The first event (March 21st) will be held in Miami at Books & Books. Edwidge Danticat, author of Brother, I’m Dying, will interview Julia Alvarez on her masterpiece, In the Time of the Butterflies. Below we’ve listed the rest of Algonquin Book Club’s 2011 event offerings.

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New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Tomorrow on April 14, kids will have a reason to look forward to bedtime.  By popular demand, First Book partner BOOK IT!® is bringing back America’s Biggest Bedtime Story — an online special event will feature actor John Lithgow reading from his children’s book, I Got Two Dogs.

Watch the quick promo spot here.

America’s Biggest Bedtime Story premiered in 2007 when more than 60,000 families logged on to watch Lithgow read his book, The Remarkable Farkle McBride.  If families and viewers break that record number, the BOOK IT! program will donate $10,000 to First Book, helping to ensure no child grows up without a great bedtime story.  You can join them by donating online.

The goal of the campaign is to encourage families to start a nightly tradition of reading together for at least 20 minutes every night.  According to a 2009 BOOK IT! survey, 48% of families do not yet have a nightly reading tradition in place.  What about you?  Do you have a nightly reading ritual with your kids?

Join us on Tuesday: tune in to the webcast and help BOOK IT! and First Book share the magic of bedtime stories with kids in need!

If you are a fan of David Macaulay's books then you might like to register for his live webcast which is taking place on Tuesday October 7th at 10:00am (EST). The plan is to talk to him about his new book The way we work, to see him talk to students, and to ask him questions, all in real time. To find out more about David Macaulay please visit his website.

This week’s LISRadio showcase is an interview with University of Wisconsin professor Adam Nelson. Professor Charley Seavey attended a session with Adam at a recent conference and was intrigued by what he had to say about the connection between print media and education. I was especially interested in what he had to say about how video games and new media can lead kids back to books. As kids learn about events and subjects from their games, they look for more information about those things… in books. New media allows kids to learn guided by their own interests.

This week’s LISRadio showcase is an interview with Michael Powell, owner of the famous Powell’s Books in Portland, Oregon. Interviewer Charley Seavey went to Portland in the spring and conducted the interview in the store. This is the first airing of the interview.

This week’s LISRadio library podcast showcase is an On the Job show interview with John Furlong. He is a Missouri librarian and a graduate of Missouri’s SISLT. The most fascinating part of this interview is his discussion of his experiences with a lending library in Nicaragua. He also talks about training other librarians on how to use circulation software.