A Big THANK YOU to Karen Day for her visit! And just a shout out that SHE’S AN AMAZING SPEAKER. SHE IS OPEN TO VISITING SCHOOLS. Our elementary school brings authors into the classroom as part of our literacy program that is funded by the PTO. Here’s her contact info.
The American Library Association (ALA) has issued their annual list of the 10 most frequently challenged books from US libraries. There’s a number of the usual suspects on the list, and while I’m still flabbergasted that there are people out there who are so concerned about the content in these books that they are requesting that they be removed from libraries (To Kill a Mockingbird? Really?)
September is Hispanic Heritage Month so I am barely squeeking out this list in time to celebrate Latino/Latina and Hispanic culture in children’s literature. Por favor, disfrutar de. (I think I said please enjoy!).
Ok. So these are not really the list of Caldecott and Newbery candidates for 2011 but School Library Journal Blog’s best guess… but I have feeling that they know what they are talking about. We shall see when the awards come out next year, but I’m betting they got quite a few correct.
You know how there are authors that your children always wait impatiently for the next new book? And maybe they do a great series which isn’t that much of a stretch. But then there are other authors that either 1) write in a wide range of genres from picture books to easy chapter books to YA fiction and EVERYTHING they write is amazing? Or 2) maybe it’s just that they never jave a dud even though everyone is allowed a dud when they are a prolific author. Or 3) their work is crazy imaginative! How do they DO that?!
My oldest choose No Cream Puffs by Karen Day for the first book club of the year. They are in 5th grade now and have been meeting for book club since 2nd grade. My daughter played soccer with the author’s daughter this past spring, but she had no idea that the mother is an author, though we (the moms) have all heard of Karen Day and knew of her books here in Newton, MA. What I didn’t know was that KAREN was a really great baseball player and the book is loosely based on her own childhood story! (see interview below)
This is a nice iPhone/iPad/iPod app from Pearson that focuses on correct punctuation using the ever so confusing comma. It’s a quick and easy way to study just this one topic for standardized test.
