Wednesday Afternoon Visits: October 14: National Book Awards Shortlist Edition

First up, congratulations to the Kidlitosphere's own Laini Taylor, shortlisted for the 2009 National Book Award for Young People's Literature (for Lips Touch, which was already on my "must read soon" stack). I have raved about Laini's other two books, Blackbringer and Silksinger, and heard great things about Lips Touch, too. Laini is a fabulous writer, and this is much deserved. Not to mention that Laini was a Cybils panelist last year, and co-organizer of the second Kidlitosphere Conference in Portland (with Jone MacCulloch). And she's growing a young bookworm, even as we speak. Oh, I am just so happy for Laini!! {Edited to add: here's Laini's response.} Congratulations to the other nominees, too. Especially Deborah Heiligman (author of Charles and Emma), who I haven't met, but who is my Facebook friend. See the full young people's list at the Cybils blog.

Cybils nominations close at midnight tomorrow night (10/15). You can access the nomination form, and lists of all of the nominated titles in each category, here. So, if you have a title that you LOVE, that you think is well-written and kid-friendly, the kind of book that you want to shout from the rooftops about, and it hasn't been nominated yet, don't miss your chance to see it considered for the Cybils. You can also read a bio/manifesto for Cybils co-founder Anne Boles Levy here.

KidLitCon is also fast approaching. Sara Lewis Holmes and her blogging author co-panelists are looking for your input. Sara asks: "What would you like to know about blogging as an author? Do you have questions about how we decide what to blog about/how we got started/why we continue/what benefits we see/what the pitfalls are?  Or any other question?" See also Pam's most recent post, encouraging locals who haven't signed up yet to give the conference a look.

Susanna Reich wrote to me from I.N.K., saying: "Twenty-two award-winning authors who've been blogging at INK: Interesting Nonfiction for Kids, have created a searchable  database, INK Think Tank: Nonfiction In Your Classroom,, at www.inkthinktank.com. Visitors will be able to search by keyword, subject, author, title, grade level, and most significantly, by national curriculum standards. Our goal is to get trade books into the classroom, and initial response from teachers and librarians has been enthusiastic."

Becky Levine has an inspirational post about re-opening doors that you might have closed earlier in your life. She says: "I’m finding a big plus to being a person “of a certain age.” And that is that I believe in more possibilities than I did when I was younger... Possibilities. What doors have you closed and either forgotten about or too stubbornly ignored? Is it time, perhaps, to go oil the lock and hunt out the key?"

I ran across two additional responses to the FTC Guidelines for Bloggers:

• Jennie at Biblio File is making a few changes, in light of the FTC guidelines (even though she thinks the whole thing is "STUPID STUPID SO STUPID!").
• Becky shares her updated review policy at Becky's Book Reviews.

Quick hits:

• Kate Coombs shares five great out of print read-alouds at Book Aunt.
• At Tea Cozy, Liz B shares information about the ALA's Great Stories Club: "The Great Stories Club reaches underserved, troubled teen populations through books that are relevant to their lives. Libraries located within or working in partnership with facilities serving troubled teens (including juvenile justice facilities, alternative high schools, drug rehabilitation centers and nonprofits serving teen parents) are eligible to apply."
• Liz is also continuing her series of informational posts. This week she talks about children's and young adult literature listservs.
• Pam Coughlan has a repeat of an excellent article that she wrote about being a mother and a reader (they don't call her MotherReader for nothing).
• The Shrinking Violets have an interview with Laurie Helgoe, author of Introvert Power (which I reviewed here). This is an interview that particularly resonated with me (as did the book).
• Terry Doherty has a great post at Booklights about Easy Readers (starting with The Cat in the Hat, of course, and including the Geisel and Cybils awards). This week's Show and Tale at Booklights is Eloise.
• Angie from Angieville has good news for fans of Dennis Lehane's Patrick Kenzie/Angela Gennaro mystery series (like me).
• Don't forget that next week is Teen Read Week. See more details about the Readergirlz plans at Miss Erin.
• A new issue of Notes from the Horn Book is now available, featuring an interview with Kristin Cashore.
• The authors at The Spectacle are discussing Suzanne Collins' Catching Fire (with spoilers).
• Monica Edinger links to a New Yorker article by Daniel Zalewski about how strongly kids seem to be in charge in today's picture books. He criticizes a number of modern books for their portrayal of browbeaten parents and rampaging kids (citing Kevin Henkes as an exception).
• See more news at Terry's Tuesday Blurbs post at the Reading Tub. She is highly recommending " the pictures from the Read for the Record event at Nationals Park", and I agree with her.

That's all I have for news for this week. I'll be taking a few days off from the blog to attend KidLitCon. Ironic, I know, that I won't be blogging because of a blogging conference. But there you have it. I have left a review or two queued up for delayed posting. Wishing you all a lovely weekend!

© 2009 by Jennifer Robinson of Jen Robinson's Book Page. All rights reserved. All Amazon links in this post are affiliate links, and may result in my receiving a small commission (with no additional cost to you).