Growing Bookworms Newsletter: March 16

Tonight I will be sending out the new issue of the Growing Bookworms email newsletter. (If you would like to subscribe, you can find a sign-up form here.) The Growing Bookworms newsletter contains content from my blog focused on children's books and raising readers. It is sent out once every two weeks. There are currently 1046 subscribers.

Newsletter Update: In this issue I have five book reviews (two picture books, two books for upper middle grade/middle school readers, and one book for young adults), one post with Kidlitosphere news, and one post with an important piece of personal news.

I also have a post about Day 5 of the Share a Story - Shape a Future literacy blog tour (a cross-blog celebration of books and literacy), which replaced the children's literacy roundups these past couple of weeks. I had other Share a Story posts during the week (Day 1, Day 1 Part 2, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4), but haven't included those in the newsletter. You can find instead a concise wrap-up of the posts from Share a Story that I found most relevant for parents at Booklights. Also at Booklights, I shared Tip #9 in my Tips for Growing Bookworms series, this one about keeping books handy throughout your home.  

Reading Update: I read a host of picture books during the past couple of weeks, as well as three middle grade, two young adult, and two adult titles. It feels good to have my reading and reviewing grooves back, after an off month in February. Here's the list: 

• Betsy Snyder: Sweet Dreams Lullaby. Random House. Completed March 6, 2010.
• Cynthia Lord (il. Derek Anderson): Hot Rod Hamster. Scholastic. Completed March 6, 2010. My review.
• Aaron Zenz. The Hiccupotamus. Marshall Cavendish. Completed March 6, 2010. My review.
• Boni Ashburn (ill. Kelly Murphy): Over at the Castle. Abrams. Completed March 6, 2010.
• Charise Mericle Harper: Pink Me Up. Knopf. Completed March 6, 2010.
• Diane Muldrow (ill. David Walker): How Do Lions Say I Love You? Golden Books. Completed March 6, 2010.
• Selma Mandine: Kiss Kiss. Golden Books. Completed March 6, 2010.
• Kat Yeh (ill. Sue Anderson): You're Lovable to Me. Random House. Completed March 6, 2010.
• Major Brian Dennis, Kibry Larson, Mary Nethery: Nubs: The True Story of a Mutt, a Marine & a Miracle. Little, Brown. Completed March 6, 2010.
• Ellen Weiss (ill. Jerry Smath): The Taming of Lola: A Shrew Story. Abrams. Completed March 6, 2010.
• Bruce Degen: Jamberry (board book). HarperFestival. March 12, 2010. A gift from Colleen.
• Bob Boyle: Hugo and the Really, Really, Really Long String. Random House. Completed March 12, 2010.
• Joan Yolleck (ill. Marjorie Priceman): Paris in the Spring with Picasso. Schwartz & Wade. Completed March 14, 2010.
• Marilyn Kaye: Gifted: Better Late than Never. Kingfisher. Completed March 1, 2010. My review.
• Marilyn Kaye: Gifted: Here Today, Gone Tomorrow. Kingfisher. Completed March 1, 2010. My review.
• Ridley Pearson: Steel Trapp: The Academy. Hyperion. Completed March 9, 2010. My review.
• Carrie Ryan: The Dead-Tossed Waves. Delacorte Press. Completed March 6, 2010. My review.
• Julie Halpern: Into the Wild Nerd Yonder. Feiwel & Friends. Completed March 14, 2010. Review forthcoming.
• Steve Hamilton: The Lock Artist. Minotaur Books. Completed March 12, 2010. This is a standalone novel for adults by an author I generally enjoy. It's about a boy who stops speaking after a childhood trauma, and ends up by his teenage years working as a safecracker. I liked the character, and enjoyed learning a bit about safecracking, but thought that the plot skipped around a bit too much in time, and with a bit too much redundancy.
• Charlaine Harris: Dead and Gone. Ace. Completed March 15, 2010, on MP3. This was the latest in the Sookie Stackhouse series. I found it a bit episodic as far as plot, and a bit grim as far as some of the content, but it still made for an entertaining listen. I'm a bit sad now that I've got to wait at least a couple of months before the next title in the series is available.

How about you? What have you been reading and enjoying? Thanks for reading the newsletter, and for growing bookworms.

© 2010 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 on purchases (with no additional cost to you).