Thursday Afternoon Visits: June 25
June 25, 2009
Here are a few things from around the Kidlitosphere that caught my eye this week.
We have a new regular blogger over at Booklights. Ann will be posting once a month, offering "an end-of-the-month summary, reaction, and (sharing of) the ideas" that Pam, Susan, and I have raised. You can find Ann's first post here. She has her top 10 picture books list, and responses to some of the ongoing discussion at Booklights about social reading, summer reading, and the importance of picture books. It's an honor to have her participation!
Also at Booklights this week: Susan has an informative post about how to find information on series books and sequels, while Pam highlights three extra-cute picture books. And speaking of cute picture books (though not at Booklights, Abby (the) Librarian shares titles from a chicken storytime.
Elaine Magliaro shares Book Lists for Summer Reading 2009 at Wild Rose Reader. In addition to links to various book lists, she also links to two articles from Reading Rockets about getting the most out of summer reading. And for some summer reading suggestions directly from sixth graders, check out "You HAVE to Read This" from Sarah Mulhern's students at the Reading Zone. "Each student chose one book that they feel all 6th graders must read." One thing that I love about the list is the range of reading levels of the books included.
Book Dads hosts the 20th Edition of the Book Review Blog Carnival (and the first time I've run across this carnival, I think). There are quite a few reviews in honor of Father's Day.
Colleen Mondor has a new installment of her fabulous What a Girl Wants series. This week, she talks with a variety of authors about the allure of the "girl detective" in literature. She asks: "does the girl detective genre matter to teen readers today? Do we need her around and if so, what does she bring to the table? Are we missing out on a chance of future female justices by not having mysteries with teen girl protagonists? In a nutshell, should we care at all about the girl detective?" In addition to the contributions by various authors in the body of the post, there's a great discussion in the comments, too.
Colleen also links to a post that I neglected to mention before from TheHappyNappyBookseller, about the treatment of an African-American character in the final Percy Jackson book. Doret says: "this final book left a bad taste in my mouth", and explains why. Jennie from Biblio File expands on the topic of race in the Percy Jackson books with a complaint about the narrator's treatment of Asian-American characters in the audiobooks.
At the Cybils blog, Sarah Stevenson links to several upcoming and recently released titles written by Cybils panelists. She includes two titles that I recently reviewed (Mare's War by Tanita Davis and Silksinger by Laini Taylor). Click through to see the others.
At Charlotte's Library, Charlotte shares a list of fantasy titles compiled for a nine-year-old girl who likes "a bit of scary stuff". This post is part one of the list, featuring older titles that Charlotte loved at that age. A followup post with more current titles will be forthcoming. There are a bunch of other suggestions from the 1970's in the comments.
MotherReader shares some suggestions for preventing, and recovering from, the current round of blog angst flu. Here's a snippet: "Look to the things that make you feel good, or at least feel better. Tap into strong relationships. Find things that make you smile. A sense of humor can be a saving grace. A well-developed sense of irony is better than a good night’s sleep." She is very wise, that MotherReader.
Last, but not least, I received two lovely blog awards this week. First Tif from Tif Talks Books gave me a Lemonade Award, for "blogs that show great attitude or gratitude." I certainly am grateful to be a member of the Kidlitosphere, so this award means a lot. Thanks, Tif! Susan Stephenson, who was also on Tif's list, named me a June 2009 Book Chook Hero, with Terry Doherty, for our efforts in putting together the weekly children's literacy round-ups. We do spend quite a lot of time on those, and it's extra-nice to have that recognized. A great week all around! Susan also has a lovely post about books and food (reading and eating at the same time) at the Book Chook.
And now, my reader is nearly free of starred items (with the exception of a couple of reviews that I'm saving). It's time to set aside the computer in favor of dinner. Happy reading, all!