Thursday Afternoon Visits: June 18

All of this blogging and social networking is a lot of fun. But now, when I see an interesting blog post, I have really to stop to think about where to put it. Do I put it in the draft for the next children's literacy round-up (alternating between my blog and The Reading Tub)? Do I share it immediately at Twitter or Facebook or my own blog? Or do I save it for a Kidlitosphere visits post? Or for my weekly post at Booklights? So many platforms, each with overlapping, but distinct, audiences. What is a blogger to do? Ah well, I'll figure it out. Meanwhile, here is some news from around the Kidlitosphere that I've been saving up for the past week.

I've seen a couple of other new posts continuing the discussion about kids and reading levels. Carlie Webber at Librarilly Blonde calls the problem "Trickle-Down Readonomics", by which "Popular books trickle down in age." GreenBeanTeenQueen writes, "Honestly I hate it when parents come into the library and brag about how their 3rd or 4th grader is reading at a higher reading level, and they want to read YA and adult books... but not with any YA or adult themes". And Christine M from The Simple and the Ordinary draws a parallel between the problem of kids being pushed to read grown-up books too soon and pressure that kids have to stop playing with particular toys. Clearly, this whole topic has resonated with people. There are also lots of insightful comments from parents and librarians on my other posts here and here, and especially on the post at Booklights.

There's been a lot of interesting discussion at Read Roger about bloggers and publishers, and buzz vs. recommendations vs. reviews. Today's post, for example, has an extensive discussion about what publishers expect from bloggers and the presence or absence of negative reviews. Earlier posts in the discussion chain are here and here. I especially liked Maggie Stiefvater's comments in today's post (hat-tip to @TrishHeyLady for sending me back to look for this). Maggie said: "A negative review is as good as a positive review for business... The posts that weren't useful? The ones that just said, in two lines: "OMG I LOVED THIS BOOK SO BAD EVERYONE GO BUY IT."" But really, there are tons of other interesting comments, too. Do check it out.

I also liked the discussion on a recent post by Daphne Grab at The Longstockings about the popularity of sequels. Daphne asks: "are you a fan of more than one novel in the same world? If not, why, if so, why and what are your favorites?" For me, the answer is yes, yes, yes if it's a world that I want to spend more time in, but no otherwise. And yes, I'm looking forward to the upcoming third book about DJ (Front and Center) by Catherine Gilbert Murdock. And the second book in Kristin Cashore's world from Graceling. And ... you get the idea. 

There's a fun discussion going on at Angieville about the joys of rereading. Angie says, of the collection of books that she re-reads regularly, "They're not what I should read, necessarily, but what I have to read. They're the books that last, that remind me everything's going to be okay, that there are entire worlds on the other side of a wardrobe door, that Lizzie and Darcy will forgive each other, that Huw's valley was once so very green." Poetic and true, wouldn't you say? I have books that call to me from the shelf sometimes (including Pride and Prejudice), and I'm pretty much compelled to obey their summons.

Kate Coombs has a fabulous Scary YA Book Extravaganza at Book Aunt. She explains: " I've saved up the most recent batch of teen paranormal books I've read in an attempt to look at some of the kinds of things people are doing. Happily, writers are branching out: only two of these books contain vampires, and they're barely mentioned in one of the two." She talks about many current titles.

Mrs. V from Mrs. V's Reviews announced last week that she's "out about reading YA". She says: "I do not feel like I ever did an official announcement about being a YA reader, other than this blog and that my family members and students frequently see me reading YA. Either way, I am proud to say that I love YA and I would gladly announce to my peers that I frequently read it and support the merits of YA." I can only offer my support and encouragement.

Abby (the) Librarian wrapped up her Help Me Help You series, in which she discussed ways that librarians can help people to get the most out of the library. These are great, nuts and bolts posts, worth a read from everyone. The final post has links to the previous four, so start there.

At the Escape Adulthood blog, Kim Kotecki shares 17 simple & free ways to have fun today. Like " Carry an umbrella even though it’s not raining." and "serve a purple dinner."

Speaking of fun, I learned from Natasha's Maw Books Blog about the ongoing Nerds Heart YA book tournament, "that highlights sixteen young adult books published in 2008 that might not have garnered the attention of their counterparts." It's the brainchild of Renay from YA Fabulous. I was pleased with the outcome of Round 1, judged by Valentina from Valentina's Room, in which one of my favorite 2008 titles was selected.

And speaking of Natasha, she's organizing a new blogging event called Bloggiesta, taking place this weekend. Don't you just love the logo? Natasha explains: "The Bloggiesta will focus on blog content, improving/cleaning up your blog or working on your social network profiles. I’m pretty open on what you can do during the bloggiesta but reading actually won’t count!  I know, I know. The point is to catch up instead of adding another book to the “to be reviewed” pile. Actual blog content is what I’m really aiming for with some technical/housekeeping bloggy stuff mixed in for good measure." The idea is to spend as much time as you can out of a 48-hour time period this weekend. As someone (I'm sorry, I forget who it was) wrote on her blog, this pretty much describes all of my weekends anyway. I'm going to sit this one out, though, because I'm feeling spread a bit thin at the moment, and even tracking my time feels like an extra thing. But I'm pleased to report that there are already some 75 participants signed up. I think it's going to be great!

In other event news, Colleen Mondor recently announced another One Shot World Tour, this one focusing on Southeast Asia. The event will be held August 12th. Colleen explains "For those of you not familiar with the One Shot idea, a group of bloggers (and its open to everybody with a blog) all agree to read a book by an author from a certain region or a book set in that region and then blog about it on a specified day. You can also interview an author from there if you prefer." You can find more details at Chasing Ray.

And now, I'm pleased to report that my Google Reader is, for the moment, empty of starred items. I do believe it's time to go read an actual book. Here's an early wish to you all for a relaxing weekend.