The Joy of Children's Literature

From the Scholastic OOM blog : While not every kid “gets” history right away, it’s one of the most important subjects they need to take while in school.  It’s hard sometimes to see how things that happened 10, 20, 100, or 1,000 years ago have anything to do with today’s world. That’s why the upcoming webcasts – Dear America: History Speaks and The First Thanksgiving are so important, because they teach kids the importance of history in captivating, engrossing ways.  “You’ll never know where you’re going, unless you know where you’ve been,” said Jennifer L. aka my mom. The first webcast, Dear America: History Speaks , takes place on Wednesday, October 26th at 1 p.m. and will feature Dear America ® series authors Lois Lowry, Kirby Larson, and Andrea Davis Pinkney.  The award-winning authors will virtually talk to students about the art of writing historical fiction including how to craft compelling stories, conduct research and develop characters. Teachers will have ac

There are two author events happening in Richmond, VA that might be of interest to local children's literature lovers. On Thursday, September 27th, National Book Award winner Katherine Erskine will be speaking for the Children's Book Bank of Virginia . She will be at The Library of Virginia from 11:30-4:00 and the Children's Museum of Richmond from 4:30-8:00. Registration is here . Newbery Award Honor winner Kathi Appelt will be presenting at the James River Writers Conference , October 6-8, at the Library of Virginia. Registration is here . Of course, don't forget about The Joy of Children's Literature Conference at The College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, VA on October 15!

-- Shel Silverstein NPR has a great article on the posthumous publication of Shel Silverstein's book, Every Thing On It , titled: Shel Silverstein's Poems Live On In "Every Thing." From the article: Every Thing On It includes 145 poems in all. Silverstein eliminated many of them from his earlier books, not because he didn't like them, but because they just didn't happen to fit in the perfect order he was looking for in a given collection. Toni Markiet, editor of the new collection, worked on other projects alongside Silverstein. Markiet says the poet paid close attention to every last detail. "He would move a piece of art over an 18th of an inch ... and look at how it looked on a page," she tells NPR's David Greene. " ... It's a slight adjustment, but to him, it mattered. I think one of the reasons his books are still so immensely popular after almost 50 years is that every tiny detail was consi

I just finished listening to Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. The audio book was performed by the incomparable Jim Dale , which was treat in and of itself! NPR did a nice story on Night Circus and author Erin Morgenstern that you might be interested in titled "Night Circus" Comes to Town with Magic, Mystery . Summary from Amazon (best book of September): Jim Dale Erin Morgenstern’s dark, enchanting debut takes us to the black and white tents of Le Cirque des Reves , a circus that arrives without warning, simply appearing when yesterday it was not there. Young Celia and Marco have been cast into a rivalry at The Night Circus , one arranged long ago by powers they do not fully understand. Over time, their lives become more intricately enmeshed in a dance of love, joy, deceit, heartbreak, and magic. Author Morgenstern knows her world inside and out, and she guides the reader with a confident hand. The setting and tone are never less than mesmerizing. The c

The first Joy of Children's Literature Conference is only a month away - October 15th!! Register now to reserve your space for what is sure to be an amazing day with this line up of authors : Pamela Duncan Edwards Candice Ransom Sara Lewis Holmes Laurie Krebs Kim Norman Ellen Potter (via Skype) Another wonderful reason to attend is that the conference will be held in the brand new School of Education at The College of William & Mary . This state-of-the-art building is just a pleasure to be in and the new Professional Development Center where the conference will be held was built as part of the building. Additionally, the city of Williamsburg where The College of William & Mary is located, is just beautiful in the fall. Consider visiting Colonial Williamsburg , only a few short blocks away from the School of Education, after the conference. Any way you look at it, The Joy of Children's Literature Conference on October 15th is the place to be!

Next weekend is the 11th Annual National Book Festival and this year, for the first time, it will be held for two days! If you have never been, do yourself a favor and go. Your favorite authors talking about your favorite books in the nation's capitol -- what more could you possible want? An unprecedented 112 authors, poets and illustrators will speak and meet with their readers at the 2011 National Book Festival , sponsored by the Library of Congress. The event, to be held Saturday, Sept. 24 and Sunday, Sept. 25 on the National Mall – rain or shine – also will offer more authors and activities for young readers than ever before. The event is free and open to the public. Saturday hours will be from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and Sunday hours will be from 1 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. Authors’ speaking and book-signing schedules are available on the festival website, www.loc.gov/bookfest. President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama, the first lady, are the honorary chairs of th

To the left is a picture of Roald Dahl's writing hut. Apparently, this is were he wrote most of his beloved stories over his long career. I love to see where authors write, don't you? And I think kids are also interested and even fascinated by the idea that real authors write real books in real places and are sometimes "quirky." Dahl's long time illustrator, Quentin Blake, wrote an article for The Guardian in which some of Dahl's quirkiness is revealed. Your students might think some of these insights are quite fabulous! From The Guardian article , I didn't go into the shed very often, because the whole point of it as far as Roald was concerned was that it wasprivate, a sanctuary where he could work where no one interrupted him. The whole of the inside was organised as a place for writing: so the old wing-back chair had part of the back burrowed out to make it more comfortable; he had a sleeping bag that he put his legs in when it was cold an

Today is the long anticipated release of Brian Selznick's Wonder Struck ! I am a big fan of The Invention of Hugo Cabret , which won the 2008 Caldecott Medal and will be turned into a movie directed by Martin Scorsese and released November 23 .   Playing with the form he created in The Invention of Hugo Cabret , Brian Selznick once again sails into uncharted territory and takes readers on an awe-inspiring journey. Ben and Rose secretly wish their lives were different. Ben longs for the father he has never known. Rose dreams of a mysterious actress whose life she chronicles in a scrapbook. When Ben discovers a puzzling clue in his mother's room and Rose reads an enticing headline in the newspaper, both children set out alone on desperate quests to find what they are missing. Set fifty years apart, these two independent stories--Ben's told in words, Rose's in pictures--weave back and forth with mesmerizing symmetry. How they unfold and ultimately intert

Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NY We all know where we were on September 11, 2001. Some people were affected more directly than others, but we were all affected. We all remember where we were at the time we learned of the terrorist attacks, and more importantly, we knew or quickly found out where our loved ones were. I was working with a first grade student at a local elementary school where my son was also in second grade. As I was leaving the building, a colleague told me what had happened. I thought it was best to leave Derek in school even though all of the schools were later locked down. In the days that followed, the images of the attacks greatly affected Derek and in response, he wrote a poem about angels flying from a burning building. I was so happy that he could use poetry as a way to convey his emotions about such a horrific event. Derek in front of his dorm. Little did I know then, that ten years later, my son would attend college in New York City. Two weeks ago, my