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The New York Times Book Review (8/19/11) published an essay by Robert Lipsyte entitled: Boys and Reading: Is There Any Hope? To me and I think to many prospective readers, today’s books for boys — supernatural space-and-sword epics that read like video game manuals and sports novels with preachy moral messages — often seem like cynical appeals to the lowest common denominator. Boys prefer video games and ESPN to book versions of them. These knockoffs also lack the tough, edgy story lines that allow boys a private place to reflect on the inner fears of failure and humiliation they try so hard to brush over.Read More →

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Publisher’s Weekly (8/17/11) reports: For more than a decade, J.K. Rowling added magic to the lives of countless children and adults with her tales of witches and wizards battling the forces of evil in a world so similar, yet so different, from our own. The spells she’s cast over our imaginations for so many years show no signs of abating. Now, Rowling is drawing Muggles even deeper into Harry Potter’s world via a new interactive Web site, http://www.pottermore.com/. Read the rest of Claire Kirch’s article, including sneak peeks into the site!Read More →

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From Publisher’s Weekly (8/4/11) : Brian Selznick follows his 2008 Caldecott Medal-winning novel, The Invention of Hugo Cabret, with Wonderstruck, which clocks in at 640 pages, 100 pages longer than Hugo, and looks like it’s going to be just as big a hit, having already received four starred reviews. Bookshelf spoke with Selznick to talk about where the story itself came from, and if he is being paid by the pound.  Hugo Cabret was a thick book, but you’ve outdone yourself with Wonderstruck. Will we need wheelbarrows for your next work? I guess Wonderstruck does make Hugo look slimmer. There are 100 more drawings. ButRead More →

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Publisher’s Weekly reports (8/2/2011): On Monday, three years after the August 2008 enactment of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act, publishers of ink-on-paper books and other printed materials suddenly received news they’d been hoping for from the outset. Both the House and Senate passed an amendment to CPSIA that exempts “ordinary” children’s books, along with a few other classes of products (e.g., all-terrain vehicles and motorcycles), from the law’s testing provisions.   “It’s awesome news,” said Gary Jones, assistant v-p for environmental, health and safety affairs at the Printing Industries of America. “We still have to comply with the lead limits and the tracking labels,Read More →

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Are you interested in catching up with the latest in using technology in the classroom?  Take a look at this class offered by Dr. Laura Turchi on Thursday nights at ASU Tempe starting in August: ENG 494/598 Special Topics Information Matters: Digital Teaching and Tools A course taught by Dr. Laura Turchi “Digital Teaching and Tools” is for English teachers who are intrigued by new media methods for creating and sharing information and art. This is not strictly a “how to” class, although we will address many practical classroom matters, and course members will gain a broadened knowledge of Web 2.0 opportunities for teaching andRead More →

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Library Journal/School Library Journal present the second annual Virtual Summit on Ebooks: The New Normala one-day virtual conference on ebooks and their role in the future of libraries. This live event brings together librarians, vendors and publishers, and industry experts and offers keynote presentations as well as three tracks designed for public, academic, and K-12 libraries to discuss how libraries are leveraging the ebook opportunityto improve service and reach more users than ever before. Public librarians will share successful ebook initiatives and discuss how ebooks will transform public libraries. Academic librarians will present how they are mastering the transition, from patron driven acquisition to discoveryRead More →

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YA author Chris Crutcher wrote an essay in response to Meghan Cox Gurdon’s controversial Wall Street Journal article about dark novels, calling it “ill-thought out and self-serving ‘reporting’”.  Read his response on the Huffington Post site Huffpost Books. Personally, I believe that Crutcher’s final paragraph is the most impactful statement made so far in this whole “discussion”: “I have a solution for Amy Freeman, 46-year-old mother of three. Next time you want to get a book for your thirteen-year-old, send her to Barnes and Noble with a few bucks to buy what she wants. Take a look at it. Read it with her. Talk about whatRead More →

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Tris & Izzie, a love story by the bestselling author Mette Ivie Harrison, is about a girl named Izzie who accidentally falls in love with this guy named Tris, a new student at school.  Izzie  has a boyfriend but her best friend doesn’t and Izzie worries that her friend feels like a third wheel sometimes.  So Izzie gets it in her head that she should fix her friend up with Tris.   Her plan to get Tris and her best friend to fall in love is by making a love potion.  But, as you can imagine, the plan backfires and Izzie falls in love withRead More →

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Enter the Acer Book Report Contest for a chance to win a 21st Century Library Makeover from Acer! Program Details: Technology can help bring excitement and creativity to the traditional book report while still displaying students understanding of reading. This contest aims to marry traditional reading curriculum strategies with 21st Century skills in an attempt to make book reports and reading more interactive, fun and engaging for young learners. The Acer Video Book Report contest also provides an opportunity to educators to re-think the standard book report by producing videos that creatively illustrate the students’ comprehension of the book, along with teaching collaborative and criticalRead More →