Sunday Afternoon Visits: April 27

I am woefully behind on my blog reading. We were in Texas and Louisiana for six days, and then Mheir's brother and his family came to visit the day after we returned. We had a wonderful time with them, and I miss them already, but my blog-reading time has definitely fallen by the wayside. And tomorrow I leave on a business trip for a few days, so there's not much change in sight. It's amazing how even when something is truly a priority, you sometimes still can't scrape up the time for it. But I did flag a couple of posts over the past two weeks:

• Through a comment on my blog, I discovered a fun new blog called Anokaberry. Here's what the website says: "The Anokaberry -- our own version ( a "mock newbery") of the Newbery Award -- is named after Anoka County, Minnesota, the home of this librarian and her blog. The Anokaberry will be awarded annually to deserving new books published in the current year, read and voted on by anyone interested in children's literature who responds with comments to this blog. Your reviews and opinions are welcome! Comments should include title, author, and the name of your local library. The results of our reading and voting will be updated and posted throughout the year. Lists of favorites and recommended reading will be compiled and published throughout the year. Our selections for Anokaberry 2009 (winner and books of distinction) will be announced the first week of January just before the American Library Association announces the 2009 Newbery Award." Fun stuff!
• I also ran across a nice article by Mary Haga at Reading Rockets about using poetry to teach reading. I think that the article is from 2005, but of course using poetry to encourage reading is timeless.
• I was tagged recently for two memes. The first was by Patty P. at Capturing Joy, who tagged me for a getting to you know you meme. The second was by the Bookwitch, who tagged me for the Page 123 meme. I haven't had a chance to respond here, but I did give responses in the comments on Patty and Bookwitch's posts, and I'm very appreciative of being thought of.
• Janssen wrote a lovely post at Everyday Reading in honor of what would have been her youngest brother's eleventh birthday. It's a bit of a tear-jerker, but heart-warming, too, and well worth your time.
• Franki Sibberson has an article at Choice Literacy about books to get people ready for summer vacation. I know I'm ready for some vacation reading time!
• Librarian Mom has a post at Scholastic asking why there aren't more superhero books. She says: "The truth is, aside from repackaged picture books based on the standard Marvel characters, there is a real dearth of superhero books out there, especially for younger kids. I'm not sure why this should be; it's a great topic, and what books there are have instant appeal and a pretty much built-in audience. But I've had to disappoint more kids looking for superhero books than I like to think about."
• As a companion to his recent program at Texas Library Association, Matthew Holm has a post filled with links on Using Graphic Novels in the Younger Grades. You can also download the PowerPoint version of his presentation.
• Cheryl Rainfield has a handy, link-filled post about finding childhood favorite books. She had the good fortune to re-discover one of her lost favorites, and she links to various sources for hints and clues.

And that's all I had time to get through for this week. Happy reading!