Maybe the fates have aligned?

So, I just found out via Sarah Dessen's blog that she'll be at Anderson's Bookshop in Naperville...

with Laurie Halse Anderson...

the weekend I'll be in Chicago for ALA...

ON MY BIRTHDAY.

Um. Can we say Happy Birthday to me?! I'm trying to figure out if I can possibly arrange things to attend all these wonderful things at once. But if I can... wow, what a weekend!

Book Review (and Giveaway!): Love You Hate You Miss You

Love You Hate You Miss You by Elizabeth Scott. (Grades 8+)

ETA (June 4): The contest is now closed. Thanks for entering!

I hate that I've become a bunch of quotation marks. "In Recovery." "At Risk."

"Murderer."

All her life Amy has felt too tall, too quiet, too awkward. The alcohol helps and that's why she drinks - to forget herself, to feel blurry and free. Julia also helped. Ever since Amy and Julia met, they were best friends. Amy knew she could count on Julia no matter what.

But now Julia's gone and it's all Amy's fault. Amy doesn't know how to deal with the sudden loss of her best friend. As her therapist has her write down her thoughts (which take the form of letters to Julia), Amy will begin to figure out her complicated relationship with her best friend.

Ohhhh, Elizabeth Scott... She better write a bazillion more books. Every time I read a new book of hers I enjoy it even more than the one before. I saved Love You Hate You Miss You until I moved because I was looking forward to it so much and I knew it'd be a great way to de-stress. I was totally right. I was actually a little disappointed that I didn't have a long wait at the DMV because I didn't get a chance to read.

What did I love about this book? Well, Amy's voice, for one. She's been through this terrible tragedy. She feels incredibly guilty. But she still has this razor-sharp sarcastic edge. She hates being labeled and, as much as it hurts her, she sees things that she and Julia would have made fun of or laughed about. She's also a bit of an unreliable narrator, which I didn't think I liked but Elizabeth's crafted it with the perfect amount of tension so that it's really believable.

I also just loved the writing. I would get caught up with the characters and the plot and then these really great lines of description would jump out at me, like:

Describing the accident:

All around us, the air smelled like burned rubber and cracked metal, and my cigarette still glowed as the world ended.

Amy describing her hair:

Mine in short and the color red leaves are right before they rot.

And (one last one) I love her description of the rejects at school as "all pimples and desperation".

Not only are these lines poetic and beautiful, but they tell you so much about Amy and how she thinks and how she feels about herself. Brilliant.

So, yeah. It's not as "chick-lit" as Something Maybe, and not nearly as disturbing as Living Dead Girl. I'd highly recommend Love You Hate You Miss You to fans of Laurie Halse Anderson's edgier titles (say, Speak or Wintergirls). Don't take my word for it; check out more reviews at Hope's Bookshelf, Becky's Book Reviews, and Katie's Book Blog.

And y'all are in luck because I have an extra copy of the ARC that I am GIVING AWAY TO ONE OF YOU. All you need to do is leave a comment on this post to enter. If you would make sure your email address is in the comment (or on your profile), that would make life easier for me. If you link to this giveaway in any way (on your blog, Twitter, Facebook, etc.) I will give you one extra entry for each link. Please leave a separate comment for each link.

You've got until June 3 to enter and I'll draw on June 4. My giveaway is open to anyone anywhere!

AND SPEAKING OF contests that end on June 3, head over to Reviewer X where you can enter to win ALL OF ELIZABETH SCOTT'S BOOKS. I'm tellin' ya, you don't want to miss that one!

*Quotes are from ARC and may not reflect the final version.

Stories Under the Stars

Several weeks ago, I did a program at my library for upper elementary students (grades 2-5) called Stories Under the Stars. I totally stole the idea from a librarian on PUBYAC (thank you!!!).

My coworker M and I learned the myths behind several constellations and did an oral storytelling program sharing those myths with the kids. We included the Greek myths and some Native American tales for constellations like Ursa Major, Cassiopeia, and Orion. We used several books to find the stories including Stars of the First People by Dorcas S. Miller and Dot to Dot in the Sky: Stories in the Stars by Joan Marie Galat.

First, I decorated the room with glow-in-the-dark stars. I created posters with the constellations that we'd be talking about, using glow-in-the-dark paint for the stars. As we told the stories, we showed kids the constellations and then at the end of the program we turned off all the lights so they could see the constellations glow. If I could make the posters again, I'd make the glow-in-the-dark parts bigger because the littlest dots didn't show up so well.

The first part of the program (about 30 minutes) was storytelling and then we made constellation window hangers for a craft. The craft came from the book Crafts for Kids Who Are Wild About Outer Space.

What you'll need:

- plastic lids (like from cream cheese or hummus or chip dip)
- glue (we tried white Elmer's glue and Elmer's gel glue and the white glue was MUCH easier to work with)
- blue food coloring
- yarn or string cut into pieces about 4 inches in length
- craft sticks
- aluminum foil and a star puncher OR confetti stars
- glitter (optional)

Pour glue into the plastic lid and fill it up (but not so the glue spills over). Add a few drops of food coloring and mix it up with the craft stick so that you have blue glue. You really only need two or three drops of food coloring.

Make a loop out of one piece of yarn or string and place the knot into the lid, pressing it down into the glue. Make sure the knot is covered in glue. When the glue dries, you'll take the star-catcher out of the lid and hang it by the yarn loop. This was the hardest part for the kids and I think M and I ended up tying almost all the knots.

We had some random confetti on hand from various projects and I went through it and pulled out the star-shaped bits. If you don't have star confetti, punch out small stars from aluminum foil. You'll use the stars to make your constellation by putting them into the glue in the lid. Use the craft stick to press them down into the glue. We provided paper and pencils in case kids wanted to sketch their constellation before putting the stars in because they're hard to move around once they're in the glue. Since the wet glue is opaque, the stars look like they are disappearing, but when the glue is dry it will be clear and you'll have your constellation hanging in a blue sky.

If you are brave, you can use some glitter to liven up your sky.

It took several days for the star-catchers to dry, so you may want to have kids leave them at the library until they're easier to transport. Pry them out of the lid very carefully! Or you can leave them in the lid - they still look nice that way.

This would be a great program to try this year because 2009's the International Year of Astronomy! Make sure you have lots of space books on hand for this kids to check out (like one of my favorites, The Mysterious Universe).

Book Review: The Beef Princess of Practical County

The Beef Princess of Practical County by Michelle Houts. (Grades 4-7.)
Review copy provided by publisher.

(This is a 2009 Cybils nominee and this review reflects only my personal opinion of the book, not necessarily the opinion of the panel!)

Since she can remember, Libby Ryan has watched her older brother Ronnie raise and show steer at the Practical County Fair. Now that he's left for college and Libby is twelve, it's her turn. She knows that she can raise a great steer and win Grand Champion at the fair... and then maybe her dad will notice her, will respect her. Libby can prove to him that girls can do cattle work, too. She can find her place in the Ryan family beef business. But first, she'll have to learn how to let go.

The title of this book was what drew me in originally. The Beef Princess of Practical County. I love it! I admit that the first half of the book seemed kind of mottled to me. I couldn't figure out where it was going. But the end made up for it. The book wasn't perfect, but it was a solid first novel and I'll definitely keep my eye on Michelle Houts.

Parts of the book had me laughing out loud, like the introduction of Libby's nemeses, the Darling sisters. The oldest Darling is named Precious. And my first thought was "C'mon. Really?!" And then I got to this part:

Now, when Mr. and Mrs. Jim Darling named their first daughter Precious everyone in town wanted to puke. I, of course, was not yet born, but I felt the exact same way once I was old enough to appreciate Precious Darling's lack of ability to live up to her own name.

Heh. Okay. I'm on board. Then I got to this part:

Two years after Precious Darling was born there came another Darling baby girl. Lil. Not Lilly, not Lillian. Just Lil. The lady who typed the birth certificate nearly refused. Okay, I wasn't born yet then, either, but that was what everyone always said.

So, yes, I laughed. And I teared up, too. I mean, we know from the beginning that this story is not going to have a completely happy ending. After the fair, the steer are sold at auction. So part of the draw was seeing how Libby was going to deal with saying goodbye to her prize steer.

Something else I really liked about the book was the inside glimpse into the process of raising and showing a steer. You can practically smell the manure (in a good way!) and it was something I knew very little about. I appreciate that the setting is unusual and that made it refreshing to read.

I do have to say that some things felt a little too cute to me (like the name of the town was Nowhere, Indiana). And I wish that the supporting characters had been fleshed out a little bit more, especially Carol Ann, Libby's best friend who makes a few forgettable appearances.

That said, I enjoyed the novel and will definitely look for more from this author. I went into it expecting Dairy Queen (based on the title and setting, I guess), but Dairy Queen it's not (and that's okay). It reminded me more of Linda Sue Park's Project Mulberry.

Check out more reviews at Bookworm Readers and A Patchwork of Books and check out Michelle Houts's super cute website.

Author Interview: Linda Ashman

Today, dear readers, I am lucky enough to talk with the lovely Linda Ashman, author of bazillions of great picture books including M is for Mischief, Babies on the Go, and Starry Safari (among many others). I reviewed her latest book, Come to the Castle, a few weeks ago for Nonfiction Monday and I love, love, loved it!

ATL: First of all, thanks so much for talking with me! I've loved lots of your picture books and Come to the Castle is definitely one I'm eager to share with my library patrons! You've written great picture books about all kinds of different subjects. How do you come up with the next idea? What inspired you to write Come to the Castle?

LA: Ideas appear in so many ways, and their origins seem to be different for each book. For example, Stella, Unleashed: Notes from the Doghouse came directly from my aging dog, Nicky, sitting beside me in my office. At 14, I knew she wouldn’t be around much longer, and wondered what she’d tell me if she could speak. M is for Mischief came from my son Jackson’s fascination with naughty behavior when he was little. Rub-a-Dub Sub started as a first line and a rhythm that kept going through my head—but refused to develop into anything else until a year later when I pulled it out of a file again. And sometimes ideas don’t develop the way you expect them to: Babies on the Go began as a collection of poems about nocturnal animals. As I began doing research and taking notes, I discovered that many animals had really interesting ways of carrying their babies (this discovery probably had something to do with the fact that I was pregnant at the time!).

COME TO THE CASTLE had a fairly strange genesis, given that I’ve never been very good at remembering historical periods, rulers, dates, etc. I started it in 2003, shortly after the Iraq War began. I was distressed at the state of the world, and wondered if any time in history was as turbulent and violent as our own seemed to be. This got me thinking of a Medieval Torture Museum my husband and I visited in Italy years before, and the horrendous torture devices on display. Somehow this led me downtown to the medieval history section of the Denver Public Library, and from there—eventually—to books on castle life in 13th Century England.

When I don’t know what I’m going to work on (and I usually don’t), I take out my idea files—several manila folders filled with 14 years worth of scribbled-on scraps of paper and partially-completed manuscripts. I’ll pull out a few things that seem to have potential, then start playing around with them. With any luck, something will develop into a story.

Can you tell us a little about your process for researching Come to the Castle?

“Process” is a very nice word for what would more aptly be described as flailing around—I really had no idea where I was going initially. I started by browsing through big, beautiful books on the Middle Ages, till I narrowed my focus to castles, and then to British castles. That, of course, led to more books, and to lots of note-taking. Daily Life in Medieval Times by Frances and Joseph Gies was very helpful in the beginning. At some point I’d done enough reading and research that the story and characters began coming to life and I could begin writing.

You probably found way more information than you could actually fit into the book. What were some of your favorite facts that didn't make it into the final book?

You’re right—there definitely were other things I thought I’d include. I found the medical beliefs really interesting—the balancing of the four humors, bloodletting, various superstitions, the unsanitary conditions that contributed to illness, and all the botanical remedies. I managed to touch on some of this in The Doctor poem, but thought I’d be able to work in more. Since the whole idea started with the Torture Museum, I thought I might have something about crime and punishment—but much of it didn’t seem appropriate for a children’s book. Also thought I’d work in something about women’s make-up (made from sheep fat) and the clothing of the time—fortunately, Steve Schindler’s detailed illustrations covered that beautifully.

One of my favorite spreads was the gong farmer because it was so unexpected (and funny)! Did you always intend to include that particular castle job or is that something that you stumbled across in your research?

I didn’t know about the gong farmer until I started doing research But as soon as I read a description of the garderobe, and the poor guy who had to clean it, I knew it would be in the book. I love this illustration, and love how they changed its orientation to get a sense of that long, disgusting, chute!

If you had to be one of the people in the castle, who would you like to be? Who would you least like to be?

Oh, I think the Earl has a pretty fine life relative to the others; I’d opt for his role. And what could be worse than being a gong farmer? Although I don’t envy the daughter much, either, being married off to some unsavory fellow at such a young age.

What are some of your favorite nonfiction books for kids? And what do you like to read in your spare time?

I don’t read a whole lot of non-fiction for kids, but I admire the visuals of the DK Eyewitness books. I also like Judith St. George’s So You Want to Be . . . series, illustrated by David Small, and Kathleen Krull’s Lives of the . . . (and What the Neighbors Thought) books illustrated by Kathryn Hewitt. I recently picked up Hey Batta Batta Swing by Sally Cook and James Charlton (illustrated by Ross MacDonald) and When Royals Wore Ruffles by Pamela Jaber and Chesley McLaren—both very clever and fun. And I think Kadir Nelson’s We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball is a masterpiece.

As for my own reading, I seem to favor books that address how to maintain your sanity, live simply, and connect with something deeper amidst the noise and bustle of daily life. I love Thomas Moore’s books, Anne Lamott’s essays, Robert Benson’s Digging In, Barbara Kingsolver’s Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, and the memoirs of Karen Armstrong and Sue Monk Kidd. As for fiction, recent favorites include March by Geraldine Brooks and The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Burrows. And, as a gardener, I’ve got stacks of gardening books around the house—though they’re really more for feeding fantasies of some future glorious garden than for actually reading.

Okay, I've definitely added some books to my TBR list now. ;) Linda, thanks so much for talking with me today! And blog readers, run (don't walk) out to your nearest bookstore or library and pick up Come to the Castle and an armful of Linda's other excellent picture books!

Book Review: Cold Hands, Warm Heart

Cold Hands, Warm Heart by Jill Wolfson. (Grades 8+)

Amanda is a star gymnast.
Dani struggles to walk across a room.
They've never met. But they're about to become more intimate than most people can even imagine.

Dani was born with her heart on the wrong side of her body. It's a failing heart, a broken heart, and there's only one option if she's going to see her sixteenth birthday: a heart transplant. When Amanda breaks her neck in a gymnastics accident, Dani receives the ultimate gift: a donor heart.

In Cold Hands, Warm Heart we get Dani's story, but we also get the perspective of Amanda's family as they deal with devastating loss and a tough decision.

I had to pick up this book after Amanda blogged about it. I share her fascination with medical novels and this one did not disappoint. I guess my interest in medicine stems from my mom who is a retired pediatrician. So, yes, I picked this one up because it's about organs and surgery and meds... but what I really fell in love with was Dani's voice.

She's funny! Dani's got that sarcastic humor that I really dig. Take this passage where she's describing her condition:

Fifteen years ago, I got taken out of the womb with my heart on the wrong side of my body, the right as opposed to the left. There's a technical name for it, dextrocardia, but I invented my own: Dani's Freakish Feng Shui Chest Cavity.

I could have lived just fine like that. No problem. It was all the other crazy stuff, like screwed-up valves and how messed up the wall separating the two sides of my heart was. Nobody expected me to live long, but I did - long enough to start a whole big stink in seventh grade by putting my left hand over my heart during the Pledge of Allegiance. Certain girls accused me of being unpatriotic. It was very gratifying to hear the president of the Young Patriot's Club grovel and apologize when my mom set them straight. (pg 26)

I thought to myself, "Here's a feisty girl. Here's a heart patient I can get on board with." I would have been completely happy had the entire novel been written from Dani's point of view. But the more I read from other points of view, the more I appreciated the alternating narration. You get little glimpses of the transplant coordinator, the courier who delivers the organs, even Dani's bratty eight-year-old kidney patient roommate.

Tyler's the other major narrator. He's Amanda's older brother and now that his sister has died, he's figuring out how little he actually knew her. Tyler has Amanda's computer and while his parents are taking comfort in the Jewish grieving rituals, he's getting to know his sister. Getting to know her and saying goodbye at the same time.

Funny and heartbreaking and hopeful with a little romance thrown in (Dani and a transplant patient at the hospital - Milo who's hoping for a second chance that he might not deserve), Cold Hands, Warm Heart is a novel that will stick with me for a long time. If you're interested in medical books or if you like books with realistic, imperfect characters, pick this one up. I might also recommend this to fans of Lurlene McDaniel who are looking for meatier fare.

(Oh, and I'll chime in with Amanda and say that I did not particularly care for the cover. It didn't make me want to pick up the book. Any teens reading? What do YOU think?)

Zigzag Nonfiction Series

Filling requests for preschool book bags has made me a lot more conscious of good nonfiction for the youngest kids. When I stumble across a nonfiction series that'll work for pre-readers, I do my happy dance. What do I look for in good nonfiction books for preschoolers? Large, bright pictures or photos and simple text. Bonus points if it rhymes. The Zigzag series by Becky Baines has all of these! Hooray! *happy dance*

In What Did One Elephant Say to the Other? we explore animal communication. How do people communicate? We speak and we write. Well, animals can't do these things, so how do they communicate? Answer: they communicate with their body language and the sounds that they make. This book looks particularly at elephants and the different ways they use their body to talk to each other.

A Den is a Bed for a Bear looks at all different kinds of bears and the homes in which they live. It explains that bears bulk up by eating lots of food before finding a den in which to hibernate. It shows baby bears getting bigger, growing strong inside the warm den.

Your Skin Holds You In talks about your skin - it comes in different colors, it heals itself, it keeps you warm or cools you down. Here's an example of the rhyming text:

Skin is like a suit of armor.
Skin can tell where you've been.
Your brain and heart do their part.
But it's your skin that holds you in!

These basic facts are accompanied by smaller captions that give more information and each page includes colorful photos and playful drawings to illustrate the concepts. The small size of these books make them perfect for little hands.

Besides the three I've mentioned here, there are more books in the series: Every Planet Has a Place, The Bones You Own, What's in That Egg?, What Does a Seed Need? (coming in September 2009), and An Artist Named Spider (coming in September 2009). I'm hopeful that there will be many more! If you're looking for great nonfiction for preschoolers, check these out!

Happy Nonfiction Monday! The round up's over at the ACPL Mock Sibert blog!

Audiobook Roundup: Moving to a Different State Version

My new job requires a bit more of a commute than my last job and I have to admit that I am actually kinda looking forward to that because it means I'll have more time for audiobook listening*.

I did get a chance to listen to a couple of great books on the trip down to Louisville with all my stuff. Albeit, it was a little hard to pay attention when my cat was yowling in his carrier, but I did the best I could. ;)

Chasing Lincoln's Killer by James L. Swanson is the recently-released adaptation of the author's adult title Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln's Killer and I found the book to be absolutely riveting. Sure, I knew the basic details about Lincoln's assassination: John Wilkes Booth, Ford's theater, gunshot, etc. But Chasing Lincoln's Killer gives you all the gruesome details, blood and guts included, and it even mentions how John Wilkes Booth's crime changed the perception of Lincoln. He was a controversial political figure that was changed over night into a tragic hero, shot down in the prime of life. The text reads like fiction and this would be a great choice for those narrative nonfiction assignments that kids get from time to time. The audio would be an excellent choice for family listening with older kids (grades 5+) because adults will dig the historical facts, too. I say grades 5+ because it is a bit bloody in parts and Swanson goes into some detail about the gruesome injuries sustained by the president and Secretary of State William H. Seward (so take note if you're sensitive to that kind of thing). This book was booktalked at Anderson's Children's Literature Breakfast and former coworker J highly recommended Manhunt, so I'll probably pick that one up at some point, if only to look at the photographs.

For something completely different, the other audiobook I listened to was Stink and the Incredible, Super-Galactic Jawbreaker by Megan McDonald. I'd been meaning to pick up one of the Stink books for quite some time, as that series is pretty popular. The story is funny, but the real draw, for me, was the incredible narration by Nancy Cartwright (you might be familiar with her as the voice of Bart Simpson). She gives each character his own distinct voice and she really brought this spunky story to life. I'd highly recommend Stink audiobooks to families with young elementary school kids and they're short so they're perfect for when you're driving around town.

*I am such a geek, but if anyone would understand it's the readers of this blog, so there ya go.

Around the interwebs: getting settled version

I'm almost back, you guys, I promise. I'm in Louisville and getting settled into my new apartment. I've had this week off between jobs and it's been nice to have time to get things done, but I am so ready to get back to work!

Regular posting will resume next week and thanks for your patience during this hiatus. In the meantime, I wanted to bring your attention to what I've been reading around the Kidlistosphere.

You've been keeping your eye on the Bridget Zinn Auction, right? Well, if you're looking for more ways to give back, consider buying something for the Guys Lit Wire Book Fair for Boys. From their post:

We are moving today into the second phase of GLW, where we put our money where our mouth is and physically act on getting books into the hands of boys that otherwise have none. Today we start the first two week Guys Lit Wire Book Fair for Boys to help the teens incarcerated in the LA County Juvenile Justice System. They have no books - at all - and they need them; they need them desperately.

(Thanks to bookshelves of doom for the link.)

You also might want to check out the Libraries Are Free But Books Aren't book drive benefiting the Louisville Free Public Library. Whether or not you want to donate, this is something for all libraries to note: if you have a wish list, people might buy you books! So think about that, librarians and teachers!

Travis gives us such great tips for our libraries and here he is with Using Unshelved in Your Library. How can you use this deliciously geeky web comic to promote books in your collection?? Click through and find out.

Um... I kinda forgot to mention on the 12th that The Chosen One is now available, but it is! Hurrah! You won't want to miss this book. And you also won't want to miss Steph's Epic Contest. She's got FIFTY COPIES to give away in various ways. There are many things you can do to win and you have until June 1st to enter (but don't delay!).

Malinda Lo has an incredible interview with superstar fantasy author Tamora Pierce over at The Enchanted Inkpot.

And Carlie wonders at the wisdom of increasing the age range of "Young Adults" to include college students and 20-somethings. She says:

I think YA librarians taking on the 18-25ers is a great way for YA librarians to do more work for the same amount of pay and to devalue the work we're already doing.

I can totally see her point and I don't think anyone should be on board with doing more work for the same pay. At the same time, I wonder how libraries are reaching out to that age group? How can we bring them in and who should be developing programs for them? Anyone got some great programs to share? Read the post at the YALSA Blog: Start Something New With YALSA and chime in with your own thoughts.

And there is still time to sign up for the 48 Hour Book Challenge!! You know you want to. Do it. Doooo iiiit.

And that's it for now. I'll be back next week with book reviews and all that fun bloggity jazz!

Around the interwebs: transient version

I just wanted to check in and let y'all know that the move is going just fine (so far). We've completed Phase 1 (acquiring and loading the truck) and Phase 2 will be tomorrow (wrapping things up here and driving all the stuff down to Louisville). Phase 3 (moving into the new apartment) will be happening Monday. Today was my last day of work. I'm going to miss that place like crazy (but I'm excited to start my new job the week after next).

And since I'm checking in, I'll point out a couple of things I've been browsing lately.

ETA (May 9): D'oh! How could I have forgotten to mention the auction?! I'll make it for that oversight by planting it here, front and center.

Three things happened to Bridget [Zinn] in February:
1. She got an agent for her young adult novel.
2. She got married.
3. She found out she had Stage Four colon cancer.

And what do you think members of the Kidlitosphere did when they found out about this situation? Well, they up and created an auction of fabulous items with proceeds going to help Bridget pay medical bills. What a wonderful and supportive community we blog in. So head on over there and check out the auction. I bid on (and was promptly outbid on) a few choice Babymouse items and new items are being added all the time. They've got everything from signed books and original artwork to manuscript critiques and publicity services. And with the proceeds going to such a great cause, how can you go wrong?

Sarah at GreenBeanTeenQueen alerted me to the fact that the movie rights to The Forest of Hands and Teeth have been sold. Parts of that book were seriously creepy (the baby! The baby!), so I'm not sure I'll go see that one. Maybe if someone holds my hand...

Laini Taylor has a great post about The YA Ghetto. She says:

...it's the adults who need to get over themselves and read good books regardless of what shelf they're on at the bookstore, rather than making books of interest to teens harder for teens to find.

Hear, hear! (And, um, someone pointed me to that link, but I'm not sure who anymore... apologies!)

Tricia of The YA YA YAs pointed me to this interview with Sarah Dessen in The Horn Book. Sarah's one of my favity-faves, so I loved reading her thoughts on writing for girls.

Ever wanted to host a sleepover in your library? Stacy Dillon tells us how it's done.

Have you been over to check out Booklights yet? This blog on the PBS site stars some of the Kidlitosphere's own: Pam from MotherReader, Susan from Wizards Wireless, and Jen from Jen Robinson's Book Page.

Speaking of MotherReader, have you signed up for the 48 Hour Book Challenge?! I was FINALLY able to do it last year and it was great, great fun. I'm totally doing it again this year even though my college roommate is being ordained that weekend. I'm not sure I'll be in the 20+ club (hours, that is), but I'll do what I can. The 48 HBC will be held June 5-7 and you can go on over to MotherReader's post to read the rules and sign up.

And has everyone seen this Twilight cake on Cake Wrecks? Yeah, thought so.

And on that note, I have a long day of packing up and driving (with two cats in the car... oy) tomorrow, so I'd better hit the sack. I'm not quite back from my hiatus, but rest assured I have some great posts* pending and I should be fully back some time next week. Thanks for sticking around!

*Topics include the following: an Elephant and Piggie Party, an author interview with Linda Ashman, and a review of The Beef Princess of Practical County (among others!).