Sunday Afternoon Visits: September 17, 2006

I spent the weekend down in beautiful Newport Beach, CA (the heart of the O.C., for those of you who follow the television show)). Mheir had a conference, and I tagged along because it was in such a nice place. I read three books from the young adult chick lit genre: Twilight (The Mediator, Book 6) and How to Be Popular by Meg Cabot, and Enthusiasm by Polly Shulman. I also went for a couple of excellent walks around Balboa Island - there's a nice boardwalk that goes all the way around the island. All of that means that I didn't have time to do as much as usual in the way of Sunday blog visits (and that I have several book reviews to write). However, here are a few things that you might find of interest.

• Liz B. at A Chair, A Fireplace, and A Tea Cozy takes up Shannon Hale's discussion of reading the classics, quoting Laurie Halse Anderson's reaction to low reading scores. Liz asks how and when non-fiction/technical reading is even being taught in schools. She notes: "Because while I love literature, and books, and reading fiction for pleasure, I want the people running companies, voting, diagnosing diseases, arguing legal cases, doing my plumbing, etc., to be able to read and understand information."
• I learned from A Fuse #8 Production that some of Steve Irwin's fans are apparently venting their frustration at his death by killing stingrays. Boy, talk about missing the point of the whole way that Steve lived his life.
• I enjoyed Camille's post over at Book Moot about her recent gig as a substitute elementary school librarian. She brought back such fond memories of my own elementary school librarian, Mrs. Tuttle.
• Congratulations to Susan at Chicken Spaghetti who was chosen as Typepad's featured blog earlier this week. Much deserved recognition, for sure.
• A Borders books promotion at the end of August raised more than $270,000 for First Book (an organization that gives book to kids who need them). Think of how many books for kids that is! Very cool!
• Nancy's list of great antagonists of children's literature over at Journey Woman is up to 193. Help her to get the list to 200, and you could win a Starbucks gift certificate.
• Rick Riordan reports that the dates for next summer's Camp Half-Blood in Austin have been announced. Session 1 will be held May 28th to June 1st, and session 2 will be held June 4th to June 8th. Definitely worth checking out! And in case you're new to Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson books, Michele has a new review of The Lightning Thief over at Scholar's Blog.