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‘Spy Kids: All The Time In The World In 4D’ promises to be an interactive experience (since it’s in…aromascope! Viewers will get a card with eight numbers to scratch and sniff when those corresponding numbers appear on the... Read the rest of this post

No, that's not the end of the sentence. PBS didn't name Boys of Steel: The Creators of Superman, though I'm sure given the chance, whatever they would've suggested would've been great.

What PBS did kindly do is name Boys of Steel a "best book for boys - middle readers."

I wonder if just having the word "boys" in the title is enough to merit such an honor? If so, my next book might be renamed Beach Read of Steel.

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Raymond Arsenault was just 19 years old when he started researching the 1961 Freedom Rides. He became so interested in the topic, he dedicated 10 years of his life to telling the stories of the Riders—brave men and women who fought for equality. Arsenault’s book, Freedom Riders: 1961 and the Struggle for Racial Justice, is tied to the much-anticipated PBS/American Experience documentary “Freedom Riders,” which premiers on May 16th.

In honor of the Freedom Rides 50th anniversary, American Experience has invited 40 college students to join original Freedom Riders in retracing the 1961 Rides from Washington, DC to New Orleans, LA. (Itinerary, Rider bios, videos and more are available here.) Arsenault is along for the ride, and has agreed to provide regular dispatches from the bus. You can also follow on Twitter, #PBSbus.

Day 6–May 13: Nashville, TN, to Birmingham, AL

Day 6 started with a torrential downpour–the first bad weather of the trip–that prevented us from walking around the Fisk campus and touring Jubilee Hall and the chapel. So we headed south for Birmingham, passing through Giles County, the birthplace of the Ku Klux Klan, and by Decatur, AL, the site of the 1932 Scottsboro trial. We arrived in Birmingham in time for lunch at the Alabama Power Company building, a corporate fortress symbolic of the “new” Birmingham. We spent the afternoon at the magnificent Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, where we were met by Freedom Riders Jim Zwerg and Catherine Burks Brooks, and by Odessa Woolfolk, the guiding force behind the Institute in its early years. Catherine treated the students to a rollicking memoir of her life in Birmingham, and Odessa followed with a moving account of her years as a teacher in Birmingham and a discussion of the role of women in the civil rights movement. Odessa is always wonderful, but she was particularly warm and humane today. We then went across the street for a tour of the 16th Street Baptist Church, the site of the September 1963 bombing that killed the “four little girls.”

The rest of the afternoon was dedicated to a tour of the Institute; there is never enough time to do justice to the Institute’s civil rights timeline, but this visit was much too brief, I am afraid. Seeing the Freedom Rider section with the Riders, especially Jim Zwerg and Charles Person who had searing experiences in Birmingham in 1961, was highly emotional for me, for them, and for the students. As soon as the Institute closed, we retired to the community room for a memorable barbecue feast catered by Dreamland Barbecue, the best in the business. We then went back across the street to 16th Street for a freedom song concert in the sanctuary. The voices o

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Raymond Arsenault was just 19 years old when he started researching the 1961 Freedom Rides. He became so interested in the topic, he dedicated 10 years of his life to telling the stories of the Riders—brave men and women who fought for equality. Arsenault’s book, Freedom Riders: 1961 and the Struggle for Racial Justice, is tied to the much-anticipated PBS/American Experience documentary “Freedom Riders,” which premiers on May 16th.

In honor of the Freedom Rides 50th anniversary, American Experience has invited 40 college students to join original Freedom Riders in retracing the 1961 Rides from Washington, DC to New Orleans, LA. (Itinerary, Rider bios, videos and more are available here.) Arsenault is along for the ride, and has agreed to provide regular dispatches from the bus. You can also follow on Twitter, #PBSbus.

Day 5–May 12: Anniston, AL, to Nashville, TN

Our fifth day on the road started with the dedication of two murals in Anniston, at the old Greyhound and Trailways stations. I worked with the local committee on the text, and I was pleased with the results. In the past, there was nothing to signify that anything historic had happened at these sites. The turnout of both blacks and whites was gratifying and perhaps a sign that Anniston has begun the healing process of confonting its dark past. The students seemed intrigued by the whole scene, including the media blitz. We then boarded the bus and traveled six miles to the site of the bus burning; we talked with the only local resident who was there in 1961 and with the designer of a proposed Freedom Rider park that will be built on the site, which now boasts only a small historic marker. I have mixed feelings about the park, but perhaps the plan will be refined to a less Disneyesque form. It was quite a scene at the site, but we eventually pulled ourselves away for the long drive to Nashville.

Our first stop in Nashville was the civil rights room of the public library, the holder of one of the nation’s great civil rights collections. Rip Patton gave a moving account of his life as a Nashville student activist. We then traveled across town to the John Seigenthaler First Amendment Center at Vanderbilt University, where John Seigenthaler talked with the students for a spellbinding hour. He focused on his experiences with the Kennedy brothers and his sense of the evolution of their civil rights consciousness. As always, he was captivating and gracious, and full of truth-telling wit. We gave the students the night off to experience the music scene in Nashville, while I and the Freedom Riders participated in a Q and A session following a screening of the PBS film. The theater was packed, and the response was very enthusiastic. It was great to see this in Nashville, a hallowed site essential to the Freedom Rider saga and the wider freedom struggle. On to Fisk this morning before journeying south to Birmingham and “sweet home Alabama.”

Raymond Arsenault is the John Hope Franklin Professor of Southern History and and Director of Graduate Studies for the Florida Studies Program at the University of South Florida, St. Petersburg. You can watch his discussion with dire

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Raymond Arsenault was just 19 years old when he started researching the 1961 Freedom Rides. He became so interested in the topic, he dedicated 10 years of his life to telling the stories of the Riders—brave men and women who fought for equality. Arsenault’s book, Freedom Riders: 1961 and the Struggle for Racial Justice, is tied to the much-anticipated PBS/American Experience documentary “Freedom Riders,” which premiers on May 16th.

In honor of the Freedom Rides 50th anniversary, American Experience has invited 40 college students to join original Freedom Riders in retracing the 1961 Rides from Washington, DC to New Orleans, LA. (Itinerary, Rider bios, videos and more are available here.) Arsenault is along for the ride, and has agreed to provide regular dispatches from the bus. You can also follow on Twitter, #PBSbus.

Day 4–May 11: Augusta, GA, to Anniston, AL

As we left Augusta, I gave a brief lecture on Augusta’s cultural, political, and racial history–emphasizing several of the region’s most colorful and infamous characters, notably Tom Watson and J. B. Stoner. Then we settled in for the long bus ride from Augusta to Atlanta, a journey that the students soon turned into a musical and creative extravaganza featuring new renditions of freedom songs, original rap songs, a poetry slam–all dedicated to the original Freedom Riders. These kids are quite remarkable.

In Atlanta, our first stop was the King Center, where we were met by Freedom Riders Bernard Lafayette and Charles Person. Bernard gave a fascinating impromptu lecture on the history of the Center and his experiences working with Coretta King. We spent a few minutes at the grave sight and reflecting pool before entering the newly restored Ebenezer Baptist Church. The church was hauntingly beautiful, especially so as we listened to a tape of an MLK sermon and a following hymn. The kids were riveted.

Our next stop was Morehouse College, King’s alma mater, where we were greeted by a large crowd organized by the Georgia Humanities Council. After lunch and my brief keynote address, the gathering, which included 10 Freedom Riders, broke into small groups for hour-long discussions relating the Freedom Rides to contemporary issues. Moving testimonials and a long standing ovation for the Riders punctuated the event. Later in the afternoon, we headed for Alabama and Anniston, taking the old highway, Route 78, just as the CORE Freedom Riders had on Mother’s Day morning, May 14, in 1961. However, unlike 1961’s brutal events, our reception in Anniston, orchestrated by a downown redevelopment group known as the Spirit of Anniston, could not have been more cordial. A large interracial group that included the mayor, city council members, and a black state representative joined us for dinner before accompanying us to the Anniston Public Library for a program highlighted by the viewing of a photography exhibit, “Courage Under Fire.” The May 14, 1961 photographs of Joe Postiglione were searing, and their public display marks a new departure in Anniston, a community that until recently seemed determined to bury the uglier aspects of its past. The whole scene at the library was deeply emotional, almost surreal at times. The climax was a confessional speech b

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Raymond Arsenault was just 19 years old when he started researching the 1961 Freedom Rides. He became so interested in the topic, he dedicated 10 years of his life to telling the stories of the Riders—brave men and women who fought for equality. Arsenault’s book, Freedom Riders: 1961 and the Struggle for Racial Justice, is tied to the much-anticipated PBS/American Experience documentary “Freedom Riders,” which premiers on May 16th.

In honor of the Freedom Rides 50th anniversary, American Experience has invited 40 college students to join original Freedom Riders in retracing the 1961 Rides from Washington, DC to New Orleans, LA. (Itinerary, Rider bios, videos and more are available here.) Arsenault is along for the ride, and has agreed to provide regular dispatches from the bus. You can also follow on Twitter, #PBSbus.

Day 3–May 10: Charlotte, NC, to Augusta, GA

We started the day with a breakfast meeting at a black Pentecostal church in West Charlotte. The students had the chance to sit with local civil rights activists such as former Freedom Rider Charles Jones, who gave another inspirational “blessing” that included rousing freedom songs. The next stop, a few blocks away, was West Charlotte High School, an important site in the school desegregation saga in Charlotte and Mecklenburg County. Since our freedom bus was temporarily out of commission (the AC was being fixed), we drove up in a red, doubled-decker, London-style “party bus.” Some of the kids rushed out to greet us, perplexing the school security guards, who weren’t expecting a freedom ride on their doorstep. West Charlotte High, once a model of racial integration and educational improvement, has fallen on hard times, the victim of resegregation and neglect since the mid-1990s.

On to Rock Hill, SC, the birthplace of “jail-no bail” in February 1961 and the home of the courageous Friendship Nine, arrested in 1961. Five of the nine joined us for an emotional lunch at a recently refurbished McCrory’s, site of the famous 1961 sit-in. Andrea Barnett, a black special-ed teacher from Charlotte, who recently completed a 3,000 mile Freedom Ride (designed to instill self-confidence in her students) on her motorcycle, accompanied by her white boyfriend, from DC to New Orleans and back to Charlotte, was on hand to sing a beautiful and moving folk song (that she wrote) dedicated to the Freedom Riders. Also on hand was a Catholic priest, Father Boone, who has been in Rock Hill for 52 years, much of the time a lone local white voice preaching racial tolerance and justice. It was quite a scene. As we drove off across South Carolina to Augusta, GA, there were more than a few tear-stained faces on the (mercifully) retooled, air-cooled freedom bus. On to Atlanta and Anniston this morning.

Raymond Arsenault is the John Hope Franklin Professor of Southern History and and Director of Graduate Studies for the Florida Studies Program at the University of South Florida, St. Petersburg. You can watch his discussion with director Stanley Nelson on The Oprah Show

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Raymond Arsenault was just 19 years old when he started researching the 1961 Freedom Rides. He became so interested in the topic, he dedicated 10 years of his life to telling the stories of the Riders—brave men and women who fought for equality. Arsenault’s book, Freedom Riders: 1961 and the Struggle for Racial Justice, is tied to the much-anticipated PBS/American Experience documentary “Freedom Riders,” which premiers on May 16th.

In honor of the Freedom Rides 50th anniversary, American Experience has invited 40 college students to join original Freedom Riders in retracing the 1961 Rides from Washington, DC to New Orleans, LA. (Itinerary, Rider bios, videos and more are available here.) Arsenault is along for the ride, and has agreed to provide regular dispatches from the bus. You can also follow on Twitter, #PBSbus.

Day 1-May 8: Washington to Lynchburg,VA

Glorious first day. Student riders are a marvel–bright and engaged. Began with group photo in front of old Greyhound station in DC, where the 1961 Freedom Ride originated. On to Fredericksburg and a warm welcome at the University of Mary Washington, where James Farmer spent his last 14 years. One of the student riders, Charles Lee is a UMW student. Second stop at Virginia Union in Richmond, where the 1961 Riders spent their first night. Greeted by VU Freedom Rider Reginald Green, charming man who as a young man sang doo-wop with his good friend Marvin Gaye. Third stop in Petersburg, where former Freedom Rider Dion Diamond and Petersburg native led a walking tour of a town suffering from urban blight; drove by Bethany Baptist, where the 1961 Riders held their first mass meeting. On to Farmville and the Robert Russa Moton Museum, formerly Moton High School, the site of the famous 1951 black student strike led by Barbara Johns; our student riders were spellbound by a panel discussion featuring 2 of the students involved in the 1951 strike and later in the struggle against Massive Resistance in Farmville and Prince Edward County, where white supremacist leaders closed the public schools from 1959 to 1964. On to Lynchburg, where the 1961 Freedom Riders spent their third night on the road and where we ended a long but fascinating first day. Heade for Danville, Greensboro, High Point, and Charlotte this morning. Buses are a rollin’!!!

Day 2-May 9: Lynchburg, VA, to Charlotte, NC

The second day of the Student Freedom Ride was full of surprises. We left Lynchburg early in the morning bound for Charlotte. We passed through Danville, once a major site of civil rights protests, where the 1961 Freedom Riders encountered their first opposition and experienced their first small victory–convincing a white station manager to relent and let three white Riders eat a “colored only” lunch counter.

Our first stop was in Greensboro, where we toured the new International Civil Rights museum, located in the famous Woolworth’s–site of the February 1, 1960 sit-in. This was my first visit to the museum, even though I was one of the historical consul

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This article and audio component was produced by Adam Phillips of Voice of America.

The American South was a segregated society 50 years ago. In 1960, the U.S. Supreme Court outlawed racial segregation in restaurants and bus terminals serving interstate travel, but African-Americans who tried to sit in the “whites only” section risked injury or even death at the hands of white mobs. In May of 1961, groups of black and white civil rights activists set out together to change all that.

[See post to listen to audio]

They called themselves “Freedom Riders.” An integrated group of young civil rights activists decided to confront the racist practices in the Deep South, by travelling together by bus from Washington D.C. to New Orleans, Louisiana. Raymond Arsenault documents their trip in “Freedom Riders: 1961 and the Struggle for Racial Justice.” He says many elder civil rights leaders denounced their strategy as a dangerous provocation that would set back the cause.

“But the members of the Congress of Racial Equality that came up with this idea, the young activists, were absolutely determined that they were going to force the issue, that they had to fight for ‘freedom now,’ not ‘freedom later,’ [and] that someone had to take the struggle out of the courtroom and into the streets, even if it meant for death for some of them. They were willing to die to make this point,” said Arsenault.

The group boarded a Greyhound bus in Washington on May 4. They planned to stop and organize others along the way until they reached their destination on May 17. Like Martin Luther King, Jr. and other prominent civil rights activists of the day, the Freedom Riders were trained in the techniques of non-violent direct action developed by the Indian leader Mahatma Gandhi. Arsenault says that for some of them, non-violence was a deeply held philosophy. For others, it was a tactic to win public support for their struggle.

“Part of what they did was they dressed very well, almost like they were going to church and they were absolutely committed to not striking back and being polite, and to contrast their behavior with what they saw as the white thugs who might very well attack them, and of course did,” added Arsenault.

The Freedom Riders were taunted – and attacked – throughout the South. John Lewis, now a U.S. Congressman, was badly beaten in South Carolina. Worse trouble awaited the Freedom Riders in Birmingham, Alabama, where white supremacists beat the Riders with clubs and chains while police looked on. In Anniston, Alabama, a mob surrounded the bus, slashed its tires, and firebombed it on a lone stretch of highway outside of town.

In interviews culled from “Freedom Riders“, a new PBS documentary tied to Arsenault’s book, several of the Riders recall how they narrowly escaped death.

“I can’t tell you if I walked off if I walked off the bus or crawled off, or someone pulled me off,” said one woman.

“When I got off the bus, a man came up to me, and I am coughing and strangling and he said ‘Boy, are you alright?’ And I nodded, and the next thing I knew I was on the ground. He had hit me with a baseball bat,

The garage sale preparation has kept me far busier than I expected. Plus, I'm expecting company this weekend for Mother's Day. (And just in case you don't think that is enough to keep me busy, this week I babysat for my friend's sons, attended a Mother's Day tea party, and my husband was away on a business trip the past three days.) I will resume my normal posting schedule soon, I promise!

Here's another holiday to squeeze in before Mother's Day -- have you heard about National Train Day? It's on May 7th this year. There are all sorts of train related events taking place and Amtrak is celebrating 40 years.

The Jim Henson Company informed me about the special train day, and I thought I'd quickly let you know about their newest Dinosaur Train episode. Tomorrow, Friday, May 6th, Dinosaur Train celebrates National Train Day with two new train-themed segments: "Junior Conductor" and "Troodon Train Day." Some PBS stations are even sponsoring special train events! Check your local listings for air time and special event information. Here's the episode info from the press release:

In “Junior Conductor Jamboree,” Buddy and his family ride the Dinosaur Train from one end of the line to the other and visit all three time periods--from the Cretaceous, through the Jurassic, to the Triassic. In “Troodon Train Day,” the Pteranodon family rides to Troodon Town to celebrate Troodon Train Day, where the main event is a concert by King Cryolophosaurus, giving his first performance in years!

Thanks to The Jim Henson Company for sending us a review screener DVD. (View my full disclosure statement for more information about my reviews.)

I still read PBs like I did when I was a kid (the first time through, I only look at the illustrations, then I go back and read the text). For a long time I thought it was something I probably shouldn’t admit in public, especially to other writers and illustrators in the kidlit world. I was embarrassed. Who wants to admit that they don’t read picture books like an adult?

Then I realized that the way I read picture books is the way that most kids read picture books. Since I’m creating PBs for children, it’s good to remember how to read them like a child. As a kid, I didn’t read the text because I couldn’t read, and because someone else was supposed to read the book to me. It wasn’t my job to read the text. (I realize some kids read at a very young age, but picture books are often read to children at home, at the library, or at school.)

Realizing why I was reading PBs the way I was has made a HUGE impact on the way that I think about writing and illustrating picture books.

So what did I learn?

Writing Picture Books: The text is for the adults to read. I’ve read many articles about the type of language needed for picture books and how every word has to count (all of which is true). It helps me to also remember that adults will be reading the text. They are your audience for the words you choose. You can make them funny, lyrical, concise, emotional, descriptive, thoughtful, or all of the above. Think about what you would want to read to a room full of kids at a library, a child home sick, or two rambunctious four-year-olds that don’t want to go to sleep. Then start writing. Write an adventure that the parents will want to go on with their children (over, and over, and over again, because PBs are repeat reads).

Illustrating Picture Books: The art is for the child to read. If you’ve ever sat with a child and read them a picture book, you know that they really examine the pictures. They’re the first ones to find hidden clues. They’ll flip the pages back and forth to look at a favorite character again and again, without caring that the story isn’t finished yet. This is the audience for the pictures you create. Make the characters interesting, give them emotions that the child can read and relate to, even if they can’t read the words. Make the art colorful, detailed and specific so that a child will fall in love with it, look at it over and over again, and not mistake it for any of the other picture books she reads.

That is why I’m no longer embarrassed to say that I read picture books the same way I did when I was little. Long live childhood; long live picture books

How do you read picture books? I’d love it if you weighed in here or on my Facebook page about how you read PBs becausxe I’m curious to know if I’m the only one that still “reads the art” before reading the text.

If you're a regular reader of Wizards Wireless, you may have noticed the glaring lack of posts here for a long, long time. That's because I've been blogging over at Booklights for PBS Parents.

Sadly, Booklights is coming to a close. But while I'll miss writing over there, I'm also really excited about writing here again.

And for you comic strip fans, I've also started a new blog called Comic Strip Art.

Welcome back and stay tuned! I've got a stack of wonderful books I can't wait to write about.

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We're nearly finished filling my daughter's backpack with all the supplies she'll need for kindergarten. (The last item we need to find is a pack of feathers. Wonder what they'll use that for?) For the most part, I'm confident she's prepared. She can write her name, knows all her letters and numbers, and is just starting to read on her own.

Choo! Choo! Chomp! Even though I coordinate our school's science fair, science is a subject that we haven't spent a lot of time on yet at home. However, my daughter has learned a few things through watching shows like The Jim Henson Company's Dinosaur Train on PBS. The show encourages basic scientific thinking and skills as well as discussing various dinosaurs, life science, natural history and paleontology. Both my kids like watching Buddy the Tyrannosaurus Rex travel on the dinosaur train with his adoptive Pteranodon family. Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous - I can barely say those words but thanks to the show my children can easily recite them along with spouting out other interesting dinosaur facts.

The PBS website also contains a lot of wonderful content useful in helping to prepare pre-schoolers for school. Several fun scientific activities can be found on the DINOSAUR TRAIN website for parents and teachers http://www.pbs.org/parents/dinosaurtrain/activities/ or http://www.pbs.org/teachers/dinosaurtrain/lessonplans/. Here are a few but make sure to click on the links above for more:

• A Colorful Hypothesis: help your child understand and apply the term "hypothesis"
  
• Dinosaurs A to Z - learn the alphabet letters and memorize some dinosaur names from A to Z
  
• Dinosaurs of a Feather - all about bird feathers
  
• Make a Dragonfly - learn basic insect anatomy by creating a model of a dragonfly
  
• Homemade Fossils - learn what fossils are and create a model of a fossil
  

Ever wonder what your dog would say to you if it could speak? (Some possible ideas: “Must you always speak in baby-talk to me? That’s insulting.” and “Under no circumstances should I be forced to wear a cardigan.”) Well now you can check out what’s on chatty Martha’s mind with the arrival of Martha Speaks by Susan Meddaugh now available at the First Book Marketplace!

A New York Times Best Illustrated Children’s Book of the Year and Parent’s Choice Award Winner, Martha Speaks chronicles the shenanigans of Martha, who is fed alphabet soup by her young owner and POOF! is able to speak. The vibrant illustrations capture Martha ordering pizza and surprising unsuspecting people with her wit, charm, and oh, her ability to talk.

Its author and illustrator, Susan Meddaugh, lives in Massachusetts with her family — including her dogs of course. Martha was a real dog who lived with Susan and her family. One day, when Susan’s son was eating alphabet soup, he wondered what would happen if he fed the soup to Martha. The rest, is history, and by history I mean an award-winning 6-book series about Martha and a popular PBS Kids show.

We all know the book is better than the movie/nationally syndicated public television children series….so pick up your copy today!

photo by creativedc www.flickr.com

Clifford the Big Red Dog first appeared on the scene in 1963. Now he has appeared in his own book series with more than ninety million books in print. He also has his own television series on PBS, and children around the world love him. So, this Timeless Thursday post is dedicated to Clifford!

One of my favorite Clifford books is the one about Halloween when Emily Elizabeth tries to find a costume for Clifford, which isn’t very easy since he is bigger than a house. But I recently read this first book ever written about Clifford again at the library, and it is just so cute–which is why it is sticking around for 47 years now. Everyone loves dogs. Everyone loves sweet dogs, and many people love big dogs. Although Clifford’s antics are exaggerated, like when he chases cars and catches them (literally), all of us pet owners are nodding our heads and thinking, Oh our dogs have done something like that before. I know just how Emily Elizabeth feels. Like yesterday, when Chester, our 11-month old boxer puppy, chewed up my husband’s Captain Kirk action figure (yes, my husband is a Star Trek geek); I just shook my head at him and said, “You are going to be in so much trouble when your dad gets home.” And Chester had the same sorry look on his face that Clifford has in the illustration with the car in his mouth and the mad, mad driver.

With the Clifford the Big Red Dog series by Norman Bridwell, you can explore all sorts of subjects with your young child. There are Clifford books about Christmas, spring clean-up, good deeds, manners, counting, Halloween, and much, much more. These are also perfect books for your child or your students to read when they are first learning to read independently because there’s simple text that the illustrations support.

So, if you haven’t visited with Clifford the Big Red Dog and Emily Elizabeth lately, then grab some from the library or purchase them on Amazon for less than $4.00! And here’s another plus, if your child is begging you for a pet, read these books to them with the attitude of “look at all the trouble Emily Elizabeth has with her dog. Do you really want to do through this?”

Do you have a favorite Clifford book? Can you believe he’s 47 years old?

The PBS Kids Go! Writers Contest kicked off last week. Kids in kindergarten, first, second or third grade can submit their original illustrated stories to their local public television station (check to find nearest partipating stations). The local station chooses winners and enters them into the national contest. An Independent Entry Form is available for those without a local station. Consider encouraging the kids in your life to enter and show off their creative storytelling skills.

Several young writers from Wisconsin won national awards last year! You can read and listen to books by the 2009 National Winners on the Writers Contest website.

no wait, that should read, “Time to make the artwork!” or “Time to write the story!” or “Time to read the books!”

I was traveling for about a month, but I’m back home now, creating artwork, writing, and reading books.

Artwork: It’s only January 14th, and I’ve already had my first portfolio review of the year! It was very helpful and showed me I’m going in the right direction, at least for now. It also showed me an area where I might be able to grow and create a new style. Lots of art deadlines in the next month, and 2 chicken images I need to have done by the end of the week. I’ll post them soon! One of them is for a postcard to send out to art directors and editors (also from my PB dummy).

Writing: I’m starting a YA writing class next week, so I’m busy building my zombie world and characters for the novel I’m going to write (same world as Sheila, but different MC for this book, which will be prose, not a graphic novel).

Reading books, books, and more books: I’ve been tweeting about what I’m reading. It’s a fun challenge to sum up a book in 140 characters. Here are my reviews of what I’ve read so far this year (I’ve added the author’s name here and deleted the tag #bookreview):

Going Bovine by Libba Bray: One of the best books I’ve read in a while. Funny & heartbreaking. Road trip, mad cow disease, & a garden gnome.

Candor by Pam Bachorz: A nice place to read about, but I wouldn’t want to live there (shudder). George Orwell would love this book; I did too.

Liar by Justine Larbalestier: Who needs the truth, when the MC tells an amazing, can’t put the book down story? Read for the truth about Micah, maybe.

How to Be Popular by Meg Cabot: Fun book I got sucked into & couldn’t put down til I was done. Loved the advice from the old book she reads.

Some Girls Are by Courtney Summers: Can mean girl Regina survive after friends turn on her? Amazing story that shows brutal reality of girl bullies.

I’ll continue tweeting book reviews in the future. You can follow me on Twitter here.

Happy 2010 everyone! What are you reading, writing, and/or drawing?

Here are my old Banned Books Weeks posts: 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007 and 2008. I skipped 2005.

I’ve been down with The Crud for the past few weeks. Not really sick, but not having a lot of extra energy to get involved in things outside my own library and jobs. Banned Books Week started on Saturday and runs through this week. I’ve been invited to an evening with readings from banned books tomorrow night and I think I’m staying home.

I’m not sure if I’m getting complacent, sick of this holiday, sick generally, or there really is a lot less enthusiasm this year from years previous. The ALA page is usually my starting point and it seems a little less lively than usual. Their calendar of events is Chicago based (wouldn’t it be great if they were an aggregator to BBW activity worldwide? Does such a thing exist) and indicates to me that they still haven’t learned to resize images before uploading them. The ALAOIF blog hasn’t posted yet this week though they did link to this cute video put out by ALA which I enjoyed. The main ALA BBW page doesn’t even link to the Banned Books Week page which is supposedly the “go to” page for current information — and does have a calendar of sorts — which has a broken stylesheet declaration which makes all the pages look like they were designed in 2003.

As usual, I clicked through from the ALA web page to the home pages of all the organizations who are co-sponsors of Banned Books Week. Here’s what I found.

• The American Booksellers Association mentions BBW and offers a broken link to more information about it
• The American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression is still offering its handbook from 2007
• The American Society for Journalists and Authors appears pretty busy opposing the Google settlement to mention BBW.
• The Association of American Publishers mentions that they are gearing up for this event, but not enough to really mention it on their website otherwise.
• National Association of College Stores has nothing, as usual
• LoC’s Center for the Book has one of the most awesome URLs ever and no mention of Banned Books Week that I can see.

Even ALA’s home page doesn’t mention Banned Books Week except on page six of their slide show where they tell us what we can buy to support it.

I wonder a little bit if this is what a post-Judith Krug ALA looks like? On a brighter note, let’s look at some Banned Books Week web pages that are useful and/or interesting

• Amnesty International puts a spin on it by looking at people who are persecuted because of the writings they produce, circulate or read.
• UPenn’s Online Books page has a nice Banned Books Online page which splits out Censored/banned books from those that are deemed unsuitable for minors (i.e. age inappropriate) and has lots of terrific links
• PBS.org has a nice little reprint of some talking points from ALA

While I’m talking about this, I’d also like to mention the data on the PBS page.

According to the ALA there have been 3,736 challenges from 2001-2008:

* 1,225 challenges due to “sexually explicit” material
* 1,008 challenges due to “offensive language”
* 720 challenges due to material deemed “unsuited to age group”
* 458 challenges due to “violence”
* 269 challenges due to “homosexuality”
* 103 challenges due to “anti-family”
* 233 challenges due to “religious viewpoints”

I think we need to look hard at this list and draw some conclusions about what sort of people believe that restricting access to books for these reasons is both a good idea or a reasonable thing to expect to be able to get away with. And then, if we want to get serious, I think we need to hit these points directly and ask people why they’re afraid of sex, or gay people (or penguins), or swearing. It’s nice to say that “free people read freely” but it’s another to be in a situation where your institutions are getting pressured by people who are intolerant and thinking that speaking truth to power is all you need to do. I’ve talked a little more about this in the MetaFilter thread about Banned Books Week, it’s always a reflective time of year for me.

Also, ALA knows that BBW means something else, right?

In honor of the new Ken Burns series starting on PBS next Sunday we asked Donald Worster, Hall Distinguished Professor of American History, University of Kansas and the author of A Passion For Nature: The Life of John Muir, to take a look at the series and let us know what he thought. His response is below. Tune in on Sunday and let us know what you think in the comments.

I have been watching the new Ken Burns series for PBS, “The National Parks: America’s Best Idea,” and it is a gorgeous and inspiring achievement. The hero of the series, and of our long history of creating national parks, is John Muir, the subject of my recent biography. Muir had nothing to do with setting aside Yellowstone park in 1872, but he was the main force behind the preservation of Yosemite, and he was the founder of a movement that would go on to add the Grand Canyon, Great Smoky Mountains, Big Bend, Cape Cod, Haleakala, Glacier Bay, and many others. Altogether, Americans would set aside more than two hundred million acres in a vast, diverse system of terrestrial parks and marine preserves spanning the continent and the Pacific Ocean. Muir would have endorsed the claim that those parks are this nation’s best idea ever. But what is the idea behind the parks?

“Recreation” is a commonly expressed purpose of the parks, which usually means outdoor exercise in the form of hiking, camping, fishing, or boating. But one can find mere physical exercise in a gymnasium. Muir understood that recreation should be a “re-creating” of our inner selves through immersion in nature. In his 1901 book Our National Parks he wrote that the parks should offer “wildness” (another word for “nature”) and that “wildness is a necessity.” A nation of “tired, nerve-shaken, over-civilized people” seek in the parks an escape from “the vice of over-industry and the deadly apathy of luxury.” They go there to reawaken something deep within their souls—a sense of being part of the natural world. Modern society has repressed that feeling of connectedness, of kinship with other forms of life, and has buried people under the burdens of too much work, too much economic insecurity, too much noise and machinery.

Muir thought the parks should be preserved for poor people as well as rich. Americans of all sorts shared the same need for getting back in touch with nature. The rich could buy a private summer retreat in the Adirondacks or a ranch high up in the Santa Barbara mountains, but the poor could not. They could, however, claim a right of access to the “people’s parks,” although it was not clear in 1901 how an impoverished sharecropper or a low-wage factory worker could afford traveling to a park. Muir seems to have assumed that eventually the railroad and the automobile would be cheap enough for almost everybody to use—and in fact that has come true. As well, he supported the creation of urban “natural” areas, like Golden Gate Park in San Francisco and Central Park in New York City. It took art to design them, but they could bring the green world within reach of city dwellers.

Besides restoring Americans’ psychological and physical health, the great parks were supposed to serve a religious purpose. Muir was one of this country’s greatest spiritual prophets, and he envisioned the parks as a kind of church or temple. They should become sacred places, rigorously protected in their pristine beauty from too much profane intrusion. He would never draw a rigid line between what is sacred and what is profane; after all he wanted people to come to those new churches and they would need food, lodging, and transportation while there. It was an old dilemma that has plagued all religions. “Thus long ago,” he noted, “a few enterprising merchants utilized the Jerusalem temple as a place of business instead of a place of prayer, changing money, buying and selling cattle and sheep and doves.” He was under no illusion that the temple of Yosemite or Mount Rainier would be safe from the ancient struggle between what is appropriate and what is not.

For people who do not share Muir’s religious stance toward nature, the whole idea of setting aside and carefully preserving national parks may seem loony. Conservative Catholics, Protestants, Jews, and Muslims may find the idea of national parks a dangerous slide toward paganism or pantheism, a threat to their traditions. On the other hand, there are a lot of “nature atheists” who find Muir’s religion misguided, anti-human, or too restrictive. They don’t find nature at all inspiring or holy—it’s just a set of economic resources to be used for the benefit of humankind. Why shouldn’t we let snowmobiles into Yellowstone? Or why shouldn’t we give the parks back to their “rightful owners,” the Indian tribes that once hunted and gathered there and let them use the lands for economic development? That the parks should have a predominately religious purpose is not a universal point of view, and thus they are constantly embroiled in America’s cultural wars.

Yet I am impressed by the extent to which Muir’s way of thinking has spread through American society and the parks have become part of the nation’s religious life. The Ken Burns series promotes this success. It suggests again and again that we should come to these places in a spirit of awe and respect for something grander, more transcendent, more beautiful than we could ever create. Here are places to make us proud but also make us humble. They are the result of immense forces working over immense periods of time, and the outcome is goodness and beauty beyond our capacity to improve. This is a view that has gathered power in our culture. I am convinced that democratic societies are especially open to the religion of nature, for it takes faith out of the hands of priests and gives it back to the people. As long as Americans hunger for religion and as long as they pursue democracy, the national parks will likely be treasured as places where the people can go to worship as they see fit.

Today's Ypulse Interview is with Beth Kobliner, a financial expert and one of the executive producers behind "Your Life, Your Money," a documentary airing tonight on PBS that takes a timely look at financial literacy among young people today. To... Read the rest of this post

PBS plans to air some great shows on Labor Day!

Don't miss the debut of Jim Henson's new Dinosaur Train show. I'm betting my son will enjoy watching it. He loves his choo-choos and dinosaurs!
Watch an intro on You Tube here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74h1GcIiFOA


It's back-to-school with a new WordWorld episode! My daughter is looking forward to showing off her favorite things at show-and-tell during school, and it looks like the WordFriends get to show off a few of their own possessions as well. What will Duck take? View a special sneak peek clip to find out!

Don't forget to check out the http://www.wordworld.com/toolkit/ for coloring sheets, WordWorld printables and activities! The WordFriends coloring pages are really neat. Kids can color and learn how to spell words at the same time! My daughter colored FROG to take to show her teacher. Their class pets this year are frogs.

Albert Einstein once said, "There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle." Preschoolers are budding little scientists and see everything as a miracle. They love learning about how things work and like to discover and explore. Their curiosity about the science of everyday life should be encouraged and nurtured. Jim Henson's newest animated puppet series shown on PBS called Sid the Science Kid helps preschoolers learn the basics of science.

We've watched Sid the Science Kid on PBS since it first debuted last year. The star of the show is a high energy, microphone toting, curious preschool-aged boy named Sid. Like so many preschoolers his favorite phrase is WHY? But he doesn't just ask why, he actively searches for answers and figures everything out by asking his parents, friends, grandmother and teacher.

Each episode of the series features a different, preschool appropriate science related question. Sid spends an entire day concentrating and learning about everything that relates to that particular science concept. Every day, the show follows the same predictable order of events:

1) Sid wakes up and thinks of a question
2) Sid discusses question with his parents at breakfast
3) Sid rides to school with his mom (and sings Mom Song)
4) Sid surveys his friends (and sings Friend Song)
5) Rug Time at school
6) Super Fab Lab where they "Observe! Compare! Contrast! Describe! and write in their journals (often includes clip of real children)
7) Play time including "Good Laughternoon" joke time
8) Susie's Song
9) Back seat driving with Grandma on way home from school
10) Evening chat with family
11) Bedtime and Sid's BIG IDEA

Earlier this month, on August 4th, NCircle Entertainment released two Sid the Science DVD's, Sid the Science Kid: Change Happens and Sid the Science Kid: The Bug Club. Each of the DVDs runs about 115 minutes and each features four different episodes. We had the opportunity to review both of the DVDs. There's plenty of content for your money's worth! My daughter preferred watching Change Happens over The Bug Club. Her favorite episode out of both DVDs was the one featuring decaying and decomposing food called "My Mushy Banana." The DVDs we received included a bonus DVD with episodes from a variety of preschool shows including WordWorld, Dive Olly Dive and more.

DVD episode listings:
Sid the Science Kid: Change Happens

Episodes discuss Transformation & Change:
- My Mushy Banana (Topic: Decay)
- My Shrinking Shoes (Topic: Growth)
- My Ice Pops (Topic: Change caused by cold)
- The Perfect Pancake (Topic: Change caused by heat)

Sid the Science Kid: The Bug Club

Episodes discuss Backyard Science:
- Hello Doggie! (Topic: Animal Communication)
- Home Tweet Home (Topic: Animal and Insect Habitats)
- The Dirt on Dirt (Topic: Dirt)
- Don't Forget the Leaves (Topic: Leaves)

Sid the Science Kid is one of the most educational shows for preschoolers available right now. The episodes are perfect for those with short attention spans because they are broken up into small manageable segments. My daughter especially loves all the songs and the joke time. I try to watch the episodes with my daughter so that we can talk about the science concepts discussed on the show and apply them at home. Another reason the shows gets a thumbs up from me -- the characters are ethnically diverse and multi-generational. Only a few minor complaints: Sid's chuckle gets on my nerves and Dad (a.k.a Mort) looks way too dorky and reminds me Dick Van Dyke's toy character in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. The gorgeous corresponding Sid the Science PBS website is full of several episode related activities and games and even includes a comprehensive parents and teachers page for those that wish to incorporate the show's concepts into home or school studies.

Dive Olly Dive: Ship Shape Sub deserves its own time in the limelight, so I'll post a review later after I have time to sit and watch the whole DVD. The DVD released on August 4th along with the Sid the Science DVDs. I've never seen the show on TV. According to a news release, "Dive Olly Dive! follows the fun-filled underwater escapades of Olly and Beth, two young research submarines-in-training." Children learn about ocean life and ocean eco-systems through watching the animated show along with learning about friendship and teamwork.

DVD Source: Review copies provided for free by NCircle Entertainment. (View my full disclosure statement for more information about my reviews.)

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Weird titles, eh? Well they'll mean something in a minute.

I received a cool book from PBS: The Rules of Survival, Nancy Werlin. I've been waiting over a year for this book on PBS and it finally came thru my wishlist.

I went to Wal*Mart yesterday and found: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Stieg Larsson. Originally I wanted the trade paperback (the bigger one) but ended up buying the mass market paperback for $5.97. It was a deal.

When I'll be able to read them? who knows. I'm busy with school work right now.

Also, I'm going to keep the Shiver contest open until 6PM tonight. This is absolutely the final deadline. Number 45 wins. Only a couple more slots, but you may never know who you are until you post and approve it! So get to it! MAKE SURE YOU POST UNDER THE CONTEST POST. POSTING HERE WILL NOT ENTER YOU!!!!

Not too far. Just down the road to PBS Parents. I'm posting weekly at Booklights, a blog about inspiring a love of reading in your child.

That's where you'll find my annual post about the Caldecott/Newbery banquet, complete with an impromptu interview with Neil Gaiman. Here's my banquet post from last year, and here's one of my very first blog posts: the 2007 banquet.

The other two Booklights bloggers are Jen from Jen Robinson's Book Page and Pam from MotherReader. I feel honored to be included with such high caliber writers.

I've been trying to keep up Wizards Wireless, but the demands of work and family (plus the PBS blog) have been taking up most of my time. Don't worry, it isn't going away, though. Look here for my Harry Potter posts (coming soon: my thoughts about the movie of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince.)

I had so much fun running the Harry Potter Giveaway contest. I've notified the 5 lucky winners, but all of your answers were fantastic.

Now I've got a question for you. I can repost Booklights posts on Wizards Wireless a month after the orginal post runs. Should I do that? Or are you more likely to read them on Booklights? See the poll on the sidebar and give me some guidance.

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Aniruddh D. Patel’s research focuses on how the brain processes music and language, especially what the similarities and differences between the two reveal about each other and about the brain itself. Patel has served on the Executive Committee of the Society for Music Perception and Cognition and is currently the Esther J. Burnham Senior Fellow at The Neurosciences Institute. Patel’s book, Music, Language, and the Brain, challenges the widespread belief that music and language are processed independently. This fabulous book won a Deem-Taylor Award From ASCAP and its ideas are explored in a PBS special The Music Instinct which airs tonight. Below learn about Patel’s experience with Snowball, the dancing Cockatoo.

Sometimes science takes you in strange directions. I study how human brains processes music, but last year I found myself in a living room in suburban Indiana, dancing with a sulphur-crested cockatoo named Snowball.

I had been captivated by his YouTube debut, where he seemed to really be dancing to the beat of human music.Click here to view the embedded video.

The ability to synchronize movements to a musical beat was long thought to be uniquely human, but Snowball’s dancing suggested otherwise. Fortunately I was able to collaborate with his owners and conduct a controlled study, showing that he really did sense a beat and move in time with it, even when no humans were dancing with him. Crucially, when we slowed down or sped up his favorite song (”Everybody”, by the Back Street Boys), he spontaneously adjusted his dance tempo accordingly, just as a human would.

This discovery (recently published in Current Biology) has implications for debates over the evolution of human music, and has opened my mind to the complexity of music perception by nonhuman animals.

Our work with Snowball appears in the PBS documentary “The Music Instinct“, which airs on June 24th.