The Joy of Children's Literature

2 Free Audiobook Downloads Each Week from Listening Library    Listening Library is proud to team up with AudioFile Magazine to support SYNC. Beginning this month, SYNC offers FREE audiobook downloads of Young Adult audiobooks and Summer Reading Classics! Watch for Listening Library's IRISES by Francisco X. Stork available June 21 – June 27 and THE AMULET OF SAMARKAND by Jonathan Stroud available June 28 – July 4. To find out when you can download titles to listen to on the run this summer, visit www.AudiobookSync. or text syncya to 25827.

NPR BOOKS CONFESSES LOVE FOR “TEEN” READS “SUMMER BOOKS” SERIES COMES-OF-AGE WITH YOUNG ADULT FOCUS, YA AUTHORS REVEAL FORMATIVE LITERARY INSPIRATIONS NPRBOOKS.ORG FEATURES ANNUAL “SUMMER BOOKS” ROUND-UPS FROM NPR FAVORITES May 30, 2012; Washington, D.C. – A good novel doesn ’ t just transcend the boundaries of its target market – it knows nothing about target markets. NPR Books takes this to heart with the launch of its annual Summer Books package, focusing this year’s theme on the coming-of-age stories that open our eyes to a world beyond childhood and stick for a lifetime. NPR Books will spotlight Young Adult literature with a new series and its annual listeners’ poll in addition to round-ups of critics’ picks and exclusive excerpts from this season’s most anticipated reads. The centerpiece of Summer Books is “ PG-13: Risky Reads ,” a new series exploring the ageless themes and no-holds barred style that makes the Young Adult genre eternally inspiring. In f...

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Last month, I signed up for the Marine Corp Marathon and I've started training. Everyday as I run through my neighborhood, this little bunny runs across my path. At first, I thought it was a fluke, since I live in a large subdivision with lots of concrete. But, each day, this little guy is still there, so now I look forward to seeing him. Today, I took my phone and snapped his picture. Cute, huh? A couple of months ago I posted my thoughts on SHARE: the guilt that comes with feeling that you Should Have Already Read Everything. One of the big ways I find time to read is auidobooks. I am a big fan of audiobooks for lots of reasons. First, they are excellently performed. Have you listened to an auidobook for children/YA lately? I just finished listening to Rotters , written by Daniel Kraus and performed by Kirby Heyborne, which won the 2012 Odyssey Award and is brilliant! Last year, The True Meaning of Smekday by Adam Rex and performed by Bahni Turpin won the award and it, t...

This is the 75th anniversary of the Caldecott Medal! In honor of this special occasion, the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC) is offering a free webinar:   Caldecott Uncovered: What You’ve Always Wanted to Know About the Caldecott Medal    Instructor: Rita Auerbach, past Caldecott Committee chair Tuesday, May 8, at 1:00 p.m. Central Time; Thursday, July 12, at 6:00 p.m. Central Time    This webinar will be offered completely free to members and nonmembers both . Don’t miss it! Space is limited; reserve your seat now .

Exactly one month from today, Children's Book Week will begin! Established in 1919, Children's Book Week celebrates books for young people and the joy of reading from coast to coast!  Check out the line-up of Official Book Week events ! Over 40 cities are hosting author and illustrator events during Book Week (May 7-13, 2012), with additional venues to come! Each year, the Children's Book Council enlists illustrators to design a commemorative Children's Book Week Poster and Bookmark. Download the 2012 Book Week bookmark by Lane Smith and order your 2012 Poster by David Wiesner! Children's Choice Book Awards Gala ! In 2008, the Children's Book Council created the Children's Choice Book Awards, the only national child-chosen book awards program, giving young readers a powerful voice in their own reading choices. Each year, the award winners are announced live at the highly-anticipated Children's Choice Book Awards Gala during Book ...

For more information, go to: http://www.loc.gov/today/pr/2012/12-067.html

Bookmobile: From NPR story Do you remember the bookmobile? I do. Last year ( in this post) , I recounted the story of how I loved the library when I was growing up in Louisville, KY. It wasn't long, however, that my mother moved us to a very small town far away from the gorgeous library I loved. The library in the small town was a long way from where we lived and we didn't have a car and there was no public transportation. Not to fear---the bookmobile came by every week! I loved the bookmobile. I remember climbing the steps, smelling the books that filled the tight space, and looking through the small collection to make my selection each week.  Needless to say, the story that appeared yesterday on NPR, The Final Chapter for a Trusty Bookmobile?, brought back all of those memories. Especially since there is a bookmobile that has been abandoned close to my house as well. I think of the bookmobile as the modern day version of librarian's on horseback, as depicted i...

From Publishers Weekly , 3/27: As of Tuesday, March 27, all seven Harry Potter novels are now available in electronic form via the Pottermore shop , the exclusive retailer for Harry Potter e-books and digital audio books. A component of the long-delayed Pottermore site , the shop is initially selling U.S. and U.K. English editions, with French, Italian, German and Spanish editions to follow in the coming weeks, and additional languages coming later. OverDrive announced this morning that as of March 29 at 9 a.m. U.S. EDT, the e-books will be made available for checkout. A 10% discount on all the titles has been extended through April 30. Every e-book purchased may be downloaded for personal use on a range of devices and platforms, including personal computers, e-readers, tablets and mobile phones. Compatible formats include the Nook, Sony’s Reader, Google Play, and Kindle; Kindle users may purchase via a dedicated Pottermore page on Amazon , which will direct them t...

Please make plans to attend the upcoming web seminar presented by Dr. Candace Kuby, on Sunday, April 1, 7:00 p.m./EST-USA: Her talk, “ Tensions from Analyzing Children’s Images of Racial Bus Segration: Searching for Tools”  is a part of Global Conversations in Literacy Research (GCLR) 2011-2012 series of  free  web seminars ( http://globalconversationsinliteracy.wordpress.com ).  On the night of Dr. Kuby’s web seminar, paste this URL into your browser within 60 minutes of its start: https://sas.elluminate.com/m.jnlp?sid=221&password=M.50295980BE948CB62AEBE26AA18523 Dr. Kuby is an assistant professor of early childhood education at the University of Missouri, Columbia, USA, with scholarly interests focused on early literacy, critical inquiry and multimodal literacies . Situated in data collected from a teacher/research study with 5 and 6 year-old children in a summer enrichment program in the South, this seminar addresses the tensions of analyzing mult...

 I just found out about an amazing workshop: Creating an Authentic Cultural Voice . This is a rare and wonderful opportunity to work with excellent children's authors and editors while learning about developing your own authentic voice. Below is more information on how to reserve your place in the program!  Call for Applicants: Creating an Authentic Cultural Voice April 26-29, 2012 A program from the Highlights Foundation Our children live in a world of diverse voices and experiences. They deserve to live in a book that authentically represents their world. Creating an Authentic Cultural Voice Join award-winning authors Donna Jo Napoli and Mitali Perkins , as well as editors Alvina Ling and Stacy Whitman, and special guest Kathryn Erskine for an intensive four-day workshop. Your mentors will work with you to discover your true cultural voice through impeccable research, imagination, empathy, and experience. Our goal is to gather a community of open...