I know that I've been posting a lot about the Share a Story - Shape a Future literacy blog tour this week. But there have been lots of other things going on around the Kidlitosphere, too. Here are a few highlights: The latest issue of Notes from the Horn Book (a free email newsletter from the Ho...

Welcome to Day 3 of the Share a Story - Shape a Future literacy blog tour. Today's theme is Reading Aloud, hosted by Susan Stephenson, The Book Chook (image to the left created by Susan). Susan says: "Reading is magic. When you encourage a child to read, you are actually conferring tw...

Book: Chill: Discover the Cool (and Creative) Side of Your Fridge Author: Allan PeterkinIllustrator: Mike ShiellPages: 80Age Range: 9-12  I have to admit that when Raab Associates sent me a copy of Chill: Discover the Cool (and Creative) Side of Your Fridge, I kind of scratched my head. Really...

Book: Bubble Homes and Fish Farts Author: Fiona Bayrock (blog)Illustrator: Carolyn Conahan Pages: 48Age Range: 6 to 9  Bubble Homes and Fish Farts, written by Fiona Bayrock (Nonfiction Picture Book coordinator for the 2008 Cybils) and illustrated by Carolyn Conahan, is a delightful...

This is a list of all of the books that I read in February, broken up into Picture Books, Middle Grade Books, Young Adult Books, and Adult Fiction. I closed out the month by reading a bunch of picture books - reviews of several of these will be forthcoming. Picture Books Michael Sandler: Tom Brady a...

Book: Zenith Author: Julie Bertagna (blog, not a blog)Pages: 352Age Range: Young adult Background: Regular readers of this blog know that I have an insatiable appetite for dystopian and post-apocalyptic fiction, especially when the protagonists are children or young adults. There's somethi...

There's been lot of activity out and about the Kidlitosphere this week. Here are a few highlights: First up, breaking news from MotherReader -- it looks like we have a definite date for the third annual Kidlitosphere conference, "officially, set for the weekend of October 16th–18th at the...

Book: Fact of Life #31 Author: Denise Vega Pages: 384Age Range: Young adult  Fact of Life #31 is a book that languished on my shelf for several months, because I just couldn't take the cover seriously. But I saw several positive reviews (see below), and finally decided to give the bo...

Book: Winnie's War Author: Jenny Moss Pages: 192Age Range: 10 and up Winnie's War is a coming of age novel set during the Spanish influenza epidemic of World War I. It also carries strong echoes of the hurricane that devastated Galveston in 1900, and left Winnie Grace's mother an emotion...

I rarely do memes. It's hard enough to keep up with my reviews and literacy news. I've seen this one about "six things that make me happy" going around, and kind of thought, well, who besides Mheir really needs to know six things that make me happy?  But then Charlotte ...