The Joy of Children's Literature

Yesterday, right about this time, I announced that I had joined the Twitter Nation (@denisejohnson1). I am following about 67 people so far, mostly in the technology and children's literature worlds. Here are my thoughts so far: Pros: Professional Development : A number of the people I am following are attending the ISTE and ALA conferences going on right now. I was able to connect to a live stream of the lunch speaker at ISTE, Chris Lehmann (@chrislehmann) and learn about some really cool sites from those in sessions who were "live" tweeting. Several people at ALA sent tweets with pictures of authors or new book releases. I would not have been aware of any of these events if it had not been for Twitter. Cool Factor : I know which book Judy Blume just finished reading (yes, Judy Blume Twitters @judyblume ) and I watched Neil Gaiman's 2010 Carnegie Medal acceptance speech . Cons: It's addicting : I can't believe how fast the time has gone. I didn'...

I finally bit the bullet and joined Twitter  @denisejohnson1 . I don't have a clue as to what I'm doing, but sometimes it's just best to jump in. I started a tweetchat: #childrensliterature and sent my first message about reading Revolver by Marcus Sedgwick. If you Twitter, let me know what you're reading! If you've found Twitter to be a powerful professional development tool for children's literature, please let me know.

The School of Education at The College of William & Mary just moved into a brand new building! It is a beautiful, state-of-the-art facility that holds much promise for teaching and learning, so I'm thrilled to be in this new space. However, the downside is that I had to pack all of my children's books and move them into my new office. I don't think anyone enjoys packing and moving, but with each move I make, I acquire new books. So the number of books I moved this time was astounding! I was not looking forward to unpacking. But, as I pulled each book from the box and tried to decide where it would go, it sparked new thinking about the books, genre, theme, and ways I might use the books in the upcoming academic year. Later in the week, I corresponded with a literacy coach, Wendy Melzer, at a local elementary school who was also moving offices. She talked about unpacking her children's books with her school's reading specialist. A...

In the past few weeks, I have had an amazing experience working with a first and fourth grade teacher and their amazing students on a virtual author/illustrator visit via Skype. Let me start from the beginning... I was fortunate enough to be offered the opportunity to Skype with illustrator LeUyen Pham and author Ellen Potter as part of a presentation for the  NCTE annual conference in Orlando  in the fall. I thought long and hard about the best way to utilize the virtual author/illustrator visit. I could have set it up so that LeUyen Pham an Ellen Potter Skyped with the teachers in my children's literature course. That would have certainly been a valuable experience for all since teachers are more likely to utilize resources such as Skype if they have had positive experiences with it themselves. However, about half way through my children's literature course, I knew that the more powerful way to use this wonderful opportunity was to have the author and il...

I have blogged about Library of the Early Mind , a feature-length documentary film about children’s literature directed by Edward J. Delaney and produced by Edward J. Delaney and Steven Withrow, several times (learn more about the film here ). Co-producer Steven Withrow has posted enticing tidbits of video from interviews on the production blog since last June; all of which are on the who's-who list of best children's authors, illustrators, editors and publishers. The first screening of Library of the Early Mind  will be held on October 19 from 5:30 - 8:00 pm. at Harvard, free and open to the public. The screening will be followed by a panel discussion with the filmmakers and featured authors and is being offered by the Askwith Education Forum which is part of  the Harvard Graduate School of Education. But, for those of us who are not able to attend, the first trailer for the film has also been released and can be found here . It's just enough to leave you ...

2010 Boston Globe–Horn Book Awards for Excellence in Children’s Literature Fiction: When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead (Wendy Lamb Books) Honor books: The Dreamer by Pam Muñoz Ryan; illustrated by Peter Sís (Scholastic) A Conspiracy of Kings by Megan Whalen Turner (Greenwillow) Nonfiction: Marching for Freedom: Walk Together Children and Don't You Grow Weary by Elizabeth Partridge (Viking) Honor Books: Anne Frank: Her Life in Words and Pictures by Menno Metselaar and Ruud van der Rol (Roaring Brook/Flash Point) Smile by Reina Telgemeier (Scholastic/Graphix) Picture Books : I Know Here by Laurel Croza; illustrated by Matt James (Groundwood) Honor Books : The Lion and the Mouse by Jerry Pinkney (Little, Brown) It's a Secret! by John Burningham (Candlewick) __________________ The judges were Martha Parravano of the Horn Book; NYTBR Children's Books editor Julie Just; and novelist Gregory Maguire. Thanks to Read Roger for the announcement

I am a big fan of Barbara O'Connor's books. Her newest book, The Fantastic Secret of Owen Jester , will be released at the end of August. In the mean time, this book trailer is just the enticement we need to keep us hanging on... Thanks to Read, Read, Read for the link.

In Theodore Boone: Kid Lawyer , the bestselling author writes about a 13-year-old amateur attorney. Grisham says writing his first book for young readers was a challenge because he didn't want to talk down to his audience. He tells NPR's Michele Norris that kids are "a tougher crowd" than adults.

I think most of us have predicted the inevitable move from traditional textbooks to e-readers, but apparently Clearwater High School will be the first to do it. From the story in the St. Petersburg Times : Clearwater High School next year will replace traditional textbooks with e-readers. The gadgets will be fully loaded with all the textbooks students need, minus all the paper. Though the school hasn't settled on a vendor, school officials are negotiating with Amazon Kindle to try to equip all 2,100 students with the 10-ounce devices this fall. Already, the school issued e-readers to all 100 of its teachers. Clearwater could be the first high school attempting such a sweeping shift with the Kindle. John Just, assistant superintendent for the district's management information systems, said Kindle officials told the district that no other high school had embarked on such an effort. Schools elsewhere have used e-readers, but mostly on a per class basis. A Massachusetts ...

Publisher HarperCollins is marking the 50th anniversary of Harper Lee's classic book To Kill a Mockin g bird with a special website . At the site, you can find information about celebratory events across North America, teacher resources, book club resources, and more.

As Posted by Read Roger , below are the July/August starred reviews from Horn Book Magazine : Sleepy, Oh So Sleepy by Denise Fleming (Holt) The Village Garage by G. Brian Karas (Ottaviano/Holt) Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi (Little, Brown) Happy Birthday, Sophie Hartley by Stephanie Greene (Clarion) Butterfly by Sonya Hartnett (Candlewick) Ling & Ting: Not Exactly the Same! by Grace Lin (Little, Brown) The Ghosts of Ashbury High by Jaclyn Moriarty (Levine/Scholastic) Big Nate: In a Class by Himself by Lincoln Peirce (HarperCollins) The War to End All Wars: World War I by Russell Freedman (Clarion) Ballet for Martha: Making Appalachian Spring by Jan Greenberg and Sandra Jordan; illus. by Brian Floca (Porter/Flash Point/Roaring Brook) Kakapo Rescue: Saving the World’s Strangest Parrot [Scientists in the Field] by Sy Montgomery; photos by Nic Bishop (Houghton)

The National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS) has provided audio recordings for all the episodes of "The Exquisite Corpse Adventure," the rollicking episodic story available exclusively at the Read.gov website . These podcasts enhance the accessibility of this story, which is being created by some of America’s finest writers and illustrators for young people. Read.gov is a website of the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress . "The Exquisite Corpse Adventure" is a project of the Center for the Book and the National Children’s Book and Literacy Alliance (NCBLA). The NCBLA, in collaboration with the Butler Center for Children’s Literature at Dominican University, also offers an online educational resource center on its website to accompany "The Exquisite Corpse Adventure." In other "Exquisite Corpse" news, the results of the Name the Mystery Author Contest have been announced. The author is young people’s...