Junior is now a rising 7th grader. How did that happen? I could have sworn that he just finished kindergarten.

This summer, when he's not app-surfing, he wants to read more Scientists in the Field books. That's the great series from Houghton Mifflin. Some that he has not gotten to yet are Diving to a Deep Sea Volcano; Saving the Ghost of the Mountain; and Wildlife Detectives. Along with many others, he's re-reading Harry Potter, too.

What are your kids reading these days? 

Disney Channel is connecting fans with their favorite stars in the new reality show ‘PrankStars’ (which kicks off tonight and promises to be hilarious! Check out the clips from the first episode where Selena Gomez and Debby Ryan play... Read the rest of this post

At Chasing Ray, Colleen Mondor talks to Sarah Stevenson, who wrote The Latte Rebellion (Flux, 2011). Stevenson's young adult novel features characters of mixed race. The author says, 

From the beginning I wanted to make this a fun story with a healthy dose of humor, not just an "issue book." Not that the issues it covers aren't important to me, but I feel very strongly that there need to be more books that have race/ethnicity/culture as a theme but which are not pigeonholed into being "ethnic books" or even problem novels...

The interview is part of the Summer Blog Blast Tour, a top-notch annual series focusing on books for children and teens. The entire schedule is here.

  WAKING ROSE: A FAIRY TALE RETOLD

 Doman, Regina. (2007) Waking Rose: a fairy tale retold. Front Royal, VA: Chesterton Press. ISBN #978-0-981-93184-5. Author recommended age: 16 +. Litland.com also recommends 16+.  See author explanation for parents at http://www.fairytalenovels.com/page.cfm/cat/116//

Publisher’s description: Ever since he rescued her from Certain Death, Rose Brier has had a crush on Ben Denniston, otherwise known as Fish. But Fish, struggling with problems of his own, thinks that Rose should go looking elsewhere for a knight in shining armor. Trying to forget him, Rose goes to college, takes up with a sword-wielding band of brothers, and starts an investigation into her family’s past that proves increasingly mysterious. Then a tragic accident occurs, and Fish, assisted by Rose’s new friends, finds himself drawn into a search through a tangle of revenge and corruption that might be threatening Rose’s very life. The climax is a crucible of fear, fight, and fire that Fish must pass through to reach Rose and conquer his dragons.

Our thoughts:

It is difficult to capture the essence of this story coherently because it touches upon so many aspects of life. There is the mystery, of course, and continuing depth of family loyalty amongst the Briers. The craziness of those first years experienced when young adults leave their nest and venture into the outer world of college life, whether as newbie freshmen or advanced graduate students. Unlikely friendships as the strong nurture the weak with Kateri mentoring Donna in her mental illness, and Rose guiding Fish through abuse recovery. Fish’s loyalty to Rose, taken to the extreme, becomes unforgiving. But then self-denigration turns into enlightenment and hope.

And after all of that is said, we are left with the relationship of Fish and Rose finally reaching a neat and tidy conclusion :>)

The girls have progressed in the series to young adults. Blanche just married Bear and Rose is off to college. Fish continues in his college program too. Doman shows us the challenges young adults face when they first enter the world on their own, particularly in making friends and exploring crushes. We can imagine ourselves engaged in the chit chat and horseplay typical in budding relationships. Important also is the picture implanted in our mind of courtship.

Throughout the story, we can see the existence of three pillars: faith, family and friends. Whenever one of these pillars is weakened, internal conflict and unsafe situations arise. Maintaining the balance, we see Rose’s keen ability for discernment that has been honed as a result of consistency in faith life, family home “culture, and choice of friends. Her discernment is key to good decisions, keeping safe, etc.

Going beyond stereotypes, the dialogue paints a clear picture of the perceptions held by non-Christians against Christians, countered with a realistic portrayal of the passionate young Christian student. Previous books portrayed ac

Prince Andy and the Misfits: Shadow Man 

Gammons, Karen. (2011). Prince Andy and the Misfits: Shadow Man. Mustang, OK: Tate Publishing. ISBN 10-9781616636197. Litland.com recommends 14+, appropriate for younger advanced readers.

Publisher’s description: Andy thought he was just an average sixteen-year-old kid… But one day his world is completely turned upside down as he learns the unbelievable truth of his identity: he is the prince of a faraway kingdom called Filligrim in the Valley of the Misfits a magical place where pixies, elves, wizards, and dragons are just as likely to be inhabitants as humans. He was brought to this world following his birth the only way to keep him from being murdered by his evil malicious grandfather. Sounding more like a fairytale than reality, Andy at first thinks he must be dreaming. But then his aunt Gladdy reveals even more astonishing news: his mother, the Queen of the Misfits, is in trouble; she’s been captured by goblins, and it’s up to Andy to rescue her. Still in shock, he makes a decision that will forever alter life as he’s known it. He will return to Filligrim and, with the help of six heroic Misfits, will embark on a mission to save the kingdom from the clutches of evil. In Prince Andy and the Misfits: Shadow Man, Andy encounters one adventure after another as he works to uncover a traitor, rescue the queen from goblins, retrieve a stone of immense power, and solve the mystery surrounding the Shadow Man the sinister mastermind behind it all. And perhaps most importantly, he must ultimately discover if he has the heart to become a true prince.

 Our thoughts:

 Land of the free, home of the brave. Now nearly forgotten, these words from our national anthem once were as commonly used as any slang today. And thanks to our free market economy, we aren’t compelled to only read shallow tales mass-produced by a few publishing moguls. We now have many independent authors who are quite good. Which brings us to Prince Andy and the Misfits, another “good ol’ fashioned” story of chivalry, honor, and a dash of romance.

 The story’s main character is a popular 16-year old, so this makes the book likeable and of interest to older readers, especially reluctant ones. However, the story line isn’t about high school and so its content is appropriate for all ages.

 This doesn’t mean the action scenes are lame by any means. Early on, Elsfur beheads three knockers with his sword! However, in the style of the best of classic literature, our author goes beyond gore, distinguishing for readers a “just” battle. Authority and hierarchy are realistically portrayed, as is clear leadership. The characters experience life lessons that are easily applicable to our own real lives too. And after all, traditionally that was a purpose to good children’s literature :>)

 As we fol

Curious as to what an online conference is? Well, go check out the explanation page for NextGenWriter’s Conference. Registration is open and attendance is filling up. Hope to see you there!

Here's a fun summer reading challenge: Diversify Your Reading!, sponsored by Diversity in YA Fiction. From that blog, 

This summer, we’re challenging readers to read books that feature a diverse world, to read beyond their comfort zones, and to just plain dive into some wonderful stories. Our challenge will have two components: one for libraries, one for readers and book bloggers. At the end of the summer we’ll be giving away some wonderful book prizes donated by publishers.

For more information, click here.

via Crazy Quilts

Tolstoy and the Purple Chair: My Year of Magical Reading
by Nina Sankovitch
HarperCollins, 2011

I admire Nina Sankovitch, although I've never met her. Every day for an entire year, she sat down and read a book, and blogged about it all.  She even wrote her own book, afterward. I just finished the resulting Tolstoy and the Purple Chair: My Year of Magical Reading, a lovely collection of personal-and-literary essays. The author began her year as an antidote to the overwhelming sadness she was still feeling three years after the death of a beloved sister, and her conclusions about the value of memory and the backward glance inform every chapter.

Books like Sankovitch's always give me additions to my wish list. I wrote down these titles: The Open Door, by Elizabeth Maguire; The Crying of Lot 49, by Thomas Pynchon; A Lesson Before Dying, by Ernest J. Gaines; Hannah Coulter, by Wendell Berry; Little Bee, by Chris Cleve; Indignation, by Philip Roth; The Sunday Philosophy Club, by Alexander McCall Smith; and Pastoralia, by George Saunders.

Not surprisingly, Sankovitch was an avid reader as a child—Harriet the Spy was especially beloved—and she does include some children's and YA books on her list of 365. Among the titles are American Born Chinese, by Gene Luen Yang; Ender's Game, by Orson Scott Card; Inkheart, by Cornelia Funke; The Picts and the Martyrs, by Arthur Ransome; Silverwing, by Kenneth Oppel; Twenty Boy Summer, by Sarah Ockler; Wizard's Hall, by Jane Yolen; and The Wright 3, by Blue Balliett. 

If you need some lit-blogging inspiration, or just like to read about reading, don't miss Tolstoy and the Purple Chair.

The Sweetness at the bottom of the pie.

 Bradley, Alan. (2009) The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie. New York, NY: Bantam Books, a division of Random House. ISBN 0385343493. Litland recommends readers age teen and adult.  

Publishers description: It is the summer of 1950–and at the once-grand mansion of Buckshaw, young Flavia de Luce, an aspiring chemist with a passion for poison, is intrigued by a series of inexplicable events: A dead bird is found on the doorstep, a postage stamp bizarrely pinned to its beak. Then, hours later, Flavia finds a man lying in the cucumber patch and watches him as he takes his dying breath.  For Flavia, who is both appalled and delighted, life begins in earnest when murder comes to Buckshaw. “I wish I could say I was afraid, but I wasn’t. Quite the contrary. This was by far the most interesting thing that had ever happened to me in my entire life.”

Our thoughts:

 When is a book a child’s book? When is it adult fiction? And when does it fall into that nebulous in-between category of teen/young adult? In times long past, the age of the character hinted at the story’s audience. But this book, written for adults, has an 11 year old protagonist. Hmm…

 One way to determine the reader’s age is to look at the problems or issues dealt with in the story, and how these are portrayed. The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie is exquisitely detailed in its description, whether it be Flavia’s ongoing dialogue narrating the story (and she is certainly quite a talkative character!) or the description of surroundings and experiences. The deep level of detail paints a realistic picture of the murderous death of one antagonist which is a bit much for elementary and middle school readers. We also have Flavia’s reaction to the death, which is an academic curiosity and intriguant rather than a reaction of humane concern. The reader should already have developed a solid concern for humanity in order to distinguish this character flaw, or uniqueness, about the protagonist.  Similarly, other descriptions such as that of the dead bird are intense. 

 Another way determine reader age is, of course, to look at the difficulty level of the composition; its vocabulary and sentence structure. The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie certainly has a doozy of a vocabulary. Flavia has a library available to her with centuries-old texts including dictionaries! So you can expect not just a complex but a very colourful, intriguing dialogue.

 And don’t forget the choice of vocabulary for slang! Once it elevates to mild cussing, it elevates to teen level read

Izzy’s Popstar Plan

 Marestaing, Alex (2011) Izzy’s Popstar Plan. Thomas Nelson Publishing. ISBN 9781400316540. Author recommended age: tweens. Litland.com recommends age 13+, with parents discerning if appropriate for younger readers.

 Publisher’s description:  Izzy Baxter has big plans-popstar plans. Ever since she was six, she’s dreamed of becoming the world’s next singing sensation. Now sixteen, her singing career is on the rise, and she’s been selected to compete on the hit TV show International Popstar Challenge. As Izzy performs in far off locations such as Tokyo and Paris, it seems as if her plans are coming off without a hitch. But God has plans of His own, and Izzy will soon discover that living for Him is “way cooler” than megastar fame.

 Our thoughts:

 Living in the world but not of it…that is what many of us try to do. It means to take part in the world, enjoy the good, and stay away from that which is bad for our well being.  If your family enjoys those American-idol type reality shows, then here’s a book for you.

 With dialogue uniquely formatted as a blog, we follow Izzy’s adventure into stardom, complete with its struggles. Healthy choices, redefining the meaning of friendship, setting boundaries, and learning from mistakes all come into the picture. The blog entries are short but poignant in a quick-to-read format. This makes it of interest to all tweens and teens, advanced and reluctant readers alike. Although focused on a female character, boys in the crowd might enjoy it…nothing too mushy or girlie—after all, she is a rock star!

 The real world of the American teen/tween today is full of cable TV shows creating (or cloning?) one pop star after another Lizzie McGuire style, from which come the cd’s, concerts, clothes and books. The scripts have formulas:  cute girl faces typical teen problems and, with help of friends, makes decisions independently. In the process, parents and other authority figures typically exist as props to be manipulated, bumbling fools believing any lie. Even boys the same age as the main character often play a secondary role. In these shows and books, friends and family exist to serve the girl.  Many parents are tired of this entertainment forming the attitude of their kids.

 In walks Izzy the pop star, just as cool but better. She misses her mom, loves and respects her dad and brother, family and friends are everything. On the road to stardom, she learns that respect and integrity are non-negotiable. This author is “in tune” with today’s teen and Izzy’s Popstar Plan meets kids where they are at…in their real world. She deals with real teen issues such as lying to her father to sneak out of her hotel and go on a date, her first kiss, the onslaught of materialism badgering teens today, the world’s definition of beauty vs. true beauty, etc. Don’t let the blog format fool you; the life lessons are poignant and run deep. She is faced time and time again with the challenge of being self-serving or selfless, often with adults putting pressure on her to make the wrong choice. It is not Disney babies, and I disagree with Amazon’s listing this for sale to 9-year olds. Because this 16-year old character deals with issues rather than childhood problems, Litland.com recommends this book for age 13+. Families should use discretion with younger readers.

Bleeder: A miracle? Or bloody murder?

Desjarlais, John. (2008) Bleeder: A miracle? Or bloody murder? Sophia Institute Press. ISBN: 978-1-933184-56-2. Publisher age recommendation: Adult fiction. Litland recommends age 16 through adult. Not recommended for younger advanced readers. (Article first published as Book Review: Bleeder: A Mystery by John Desjarlais on Blogcritics.) http://blogcritics.org/books/article/book-review-bleeder-a-mystery-by/

 Publisher Description:  When classics professor Reed Stubblefield is disabled in a school shooting, he retreats to a rural Illinois cabin to recover and to write a book on Aristotle in peace. Oddly, in the chill of early March, the campgrounds and motels of tiny River  Falls  are filled with the ill and infirm — all seeking the healing touch of the town’s new parish priest, reputed to be a stigmatic. Skeptical about religion since his wife’s death from leukemia, Reed is nevertheless drawn into a friendship with the cleric, Rev. Ray Boudreau, an amiable Aquinas scholar with a fine library –  who collapses and bleeds to death on Good Friday in front of horrified parishioners. A miracle? Or bloody murder? Once Reed becomes the prime ‘person of interest’ in the mysterious death, he seeks the truth with the help of an attractive local reporter and Aristotle’s logic before he is arrested or killed — because not everyone in town wants this mystery solved…

 SO WHAT DO WE THINK?

Finally, I get to review a book in my favorite genre: cozy mystery! Desjarlais mastered it well in Bleeder. Reed Stubblefield is a professor on sabbatical. While often used to finish research or publish books,  a sabbatical is truly meant to be a time of learning, development, self-improvement. Reed endures life “lessons” that he didn’t anticipate in this quiet rural town.

Written for adults, older teens will also appreciate the rich context within which Desjairlas situates his mystery as well as his multi-faceted characters. The protagonist, a religious skeptic, ends up knee-deep in a possible miracle—or hoax? Criticism and misunderstanding of Catholicism are treated realistically and given intellectual critique. In contrast to authors like Regina Doman who integrate classic literature with a poetic effect, Bleeder is  equally intellectual but for the philosopher rather than the poet.  However, rather than a heady treatment, we are entertained with continuous theme tying Aquinas to Aristotle in the self-talk and dialogue of characters. This gives it practical application to every day life (great for school assignment). A standard ethical process for decision making is provided that leads to the truth.

Each character in the story is dubious, and the reader sees how easy it is to appear to be a “good” person when not. Some are misguided religious fanatics who perpetuate their own beliefs from within a church community, showing how easily one can think they are following a path of Truth while actually straying into twisted religion. For others, their d

Well, we’ve made it through the full anthology. Virtues and traits demonstrated in the first 11 stories include:

Compassion & Conscientiousness

Loyalty & Courage

Respect for others

Truth

Right vs. Wrong

Honor

Contrition

Patience

Good vs. Evil

Equality

Responsibility

 Take a gander at how these compare to our character education criteria too at the Litland.com website  .

 It’s been quite an adventure, on and off earth, in and out of space, deep into the minds of people, aliens, and hybrids. Often too much like life today, such as the surrogate raising of droids in Cathedral which mirrors today’s legal battles to permit renting a womb. Characters who seem to be losing their mind; hearing voices. Profound emptiness. Real friendship. Virtual delusions in Otherworld. A fast paced, well written collection, I recommend Infinite Space, Infinite God II for family and youth group book clubs as well as classroom reading…each story provides much to think about and discuss! A good teaching tool, but also just good ol’ fiction for all to enjoy!

"But the things I flat-out enjoy the most [about owning chickens] are not about virtue or use—they are about having them. Naming them, feeding them, talking to them (which is stupid I know, and I don't care) and just plain watching them."

Laura Cooper, as quoted in The Urban Homestead: Your Guide to Self-Sufficient Living in the Heart of the City, by Kelly Coyne and Erik Knutzen (Process Media, 2010)

As someone who tells her hens good night, I can totally relate to the the "stupid I know, and I don't care" part. Chicken keeping is increasingly popular around here. We went to a ribbon cutting for some friends' big beautiful new coop recently, and one of the hens looked exactly like our Queenie. Exactly! She turned out to be Queenie's sister. Small chicken world.

We live in the suburbs, not the heart of the city, but there's plenty of practical advice in The Urban Homestead for anyone interested in living practically. I've spent the better part of May (when it wasn't raining) in the yard with J., planting tomatoes, herbs, okra, flowers, radishes, and other things. He is going to saw down some of our abundant bamboo for poles for Kentucky Wonder Beans. 

Meanwhile, the Harry Potter audiobooks have taken us through a school year's worth of car rides. What a gift! We're now on #5. The Goblet of Fire, #4, was my favorite so far. So much is happening. I also noted how J.K. Rowling paints an absolutely awful portrait of the journalist Rita Skeeter. She lies, sneaks around, misquotes. Ouch. The Goblet movie is waiting for us at the library, so I'd better run and pick it up.

Happy Memorial Day to all.

TWO-EYES is a story I wrote as a modern riff on an old Grimm’s fairy tale by the same name. You can get a taste for the Grimm version in the opening paragraphs of the story. Here’s my own, updated plot:

Smart, sarcastic Emiline Butcher is the odd-girl-out in her family: a good student, a good girl, nobody worth noticing. But Emiline notices everything about them: her messed-up, conniving sisters; her secretive mother; her silent, passive dad. How can a normal girl escape the abnormal–especially when she’s the only one who sees it?

A lot of times I write short stories as an experiment in voice: If I like the way a particular character sounds to my ear, I might write a whole novel from her perspective.

The star of TWO-EYES, Emiline Butcher, was a girl I really ended up liking. So I did write a whole novel in her voice, but gave her a completely different name, family, storyline, etc. And who knows–some day you all may see it! You never can tell . . .

In the meantime, you can download TWO-EYES from Smashwords, and even better–you can download it for free all weekend long. Just use coupon code AV48G. Coupon expires April 25, 2011.

Enjoy!

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1. Wild About Books- This picture book is written by Judy Sierra and illustrated by Marc Brown. It won the E.B White Read Aloud Award in 2005. It was published by Alfred A. Knopf in August 2004. It is a great book to read aloud both in the classroom and at bed time. What happens when librarian Molly McGrew by mistake drove her bookmobile into the zoo. All the animals end up having fun borrowing her books. The illustrations are wonderful and the story brings your child into a world where animals read books and the adventures they have doing so. The animals also discover reading. This is probably one of my favorite books. It will be a great read for any child or adult. I highly recommend it to be available in any school library. 
2. Flotsam- This book was illustrated by David Wiesner. It won the Caldecott Medal in 2007. It was published by Clarion Books in 2006. This book uses only illustrations to tell a wonderful story. The main character is a boy spending time on a beach. The boy's story is told through pictures that flow smoothly. He discovers an old camera with film in it. It seems the pictures had traveled in the ocean for a very long time. It is a great book for children because each illustration tells its own story. It also proofs that picture books do not necessary need words to tell a wonderful story. 
3. MoonPowder- This book was written and illustrated by John Rocco a very good friend of mine. It was published by Hyperion Books for Children. It came out in 2008. This book is the story about Eli Treebuckler who is known for fixing everything. Then one day the Moonpowder factory is on the blink and he is the only that can fix it. The question is will he get there on time. This book is full of wonderful illustrations and a fantastic story. This is a great book to read to your child at bedtime. It covers topics like dreams and nightmares. It also takes Eli on a amazing journey to save the Moonpowder factory. I believe it will also take your children there.          

1. Charmed Life- This book was written by Diana Wynne Jones. It was published by Macmillian Children's Books in 1977. This is the story about two siblings a boy named Eric who has no talent with magic and Gwendolyn   who is a gifted witch with astonishing powers, it suits her enormously when she is taken to live in Chrestomanci Castle. This is the home of a great enchanter. However, life with his family is not what either of the children expects and sparks start to fly. This is a charming story that is probably like the Harry Potter of it's day. Even though it came out over thirty years ago it can still be viewed in our day. It has a great story that any middle grader interested in magic and fantasy  could enjoy. I highly recommend this book for them. 
2. Over Sea, Under Stone- This book was written by Susan Cooper. It was published in 1965 by Simon and Schuster and came out again in 2000 from Aladdin paperback. This book is the first in the Dark is Rising Sequence. When three siblings go on holiday to Cornwall they find an ancient manuscript which sends them on a dangerous quest for a grail that would reveal the true story of King Arthur and entraps them in a battle b
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By Michelle Rafferty

As most of you probably know by now, there’s a new stage in life – emerging adulthood, or for the purposes of this post, the unmarried young adult. Marriage is getting pushed off (26 is now the average age for women, 28 for men) which means…more premarital sex than ever!

According to sociologists, emerging adults are all part of a sexual market in which the “cost” of sex for men and women in heterosexual relationships is pretty different. Out of this disparity has risen the theory of “sexual economics,” which I recently read up on in Premarital Sex in America: How Young Americans Meet, Mate, and Think about Marrying. At first glance women appeared to be the clear losers in this market. See this passage:

Sexual economics theory would argue that sex is about acquiring valued “resources” at least as much as it is about seeking pleasure. When most people think of women trading sex for resources, they think of prostitution and money as the terms of exchange. But this theory encourages us to think far more broadly about the resources that the average woman values and attempts to acquire in return for sex – things like love, attention, status, self-esteem, affection, commitment, and feelings of emotional union. Within many emerging adults’ relationships, orgasms are not often traded equally.

Basically, the sexual economics theory says that while women and men are doing the same thing during sex, socially they are doing two different things. Women can and do enjoy sex, but they also have an agenda, while men…just want to have sex. Which to me just seemed, well, sad. Hadn’t women all finally agreed that a man can’t ever make you happy, only you can? But the more I read up on the theory of sexual economics, the less cut-and-dry it became. Women might use sex to get commitment, but they’re also getting things like advanced degrees and independent financial stability  - which also play a role in this new sexual economy. This led me to ask: are men really the clear winners in this game? I scoured the countless studies and interviews in Premartial Sex in America and came up with the following chart to sort all the data out.

Wins in the Emerging Adult Sexual Market by Gender

Tally:
Women &

“With this grant, our library was able to purchase 100 books for our library collection, as well  as provide books for 87 preschoolers from low-income families. With proration hitting so many non-profits, it was truly a blessing to receive this grant for our library. HOOORAY to FIRST Book and Walmart for helping us!”

– Debra Grayson, White Smith Memorial Library, Jackson, AL

First Book was able to distribute over 75,000 brand-new books to teen and young adult readers in Alabama, Florida, Rhode Island, Oklahoma and Georgia, thanks to support from the Walmart State Giving Program.

Fifty programs in each of the five states received a $500 credit for the First Book Marketplace, our online store available exclusively to programs serving children from low-income communities. In addition, programs across those states received thousands more books – free of charge – from our National Book Bank.

“In the past we haven’t been able to provide books to older readers to the extent needed,” said Kyle Zimmer, First Book’s president and CEO. “But that’s changing fast; the selection of young adult titles we’re able to offer to our network of schools and programs is growing, and we’re on track to deliver even more resources to this under-served group this year.”

We know how hard teachers and program leaders are working to get teenagers reading, so we’re excited to be able to offer more books that appeal to older readers, and get them into the hands of kids that need them.

If you work with young adults, get in touch or leave a comment below, and let us know about the books they’re interested in and what we could do to help your program.

Today the UK's Guardian newspaper launches a new site for children's books—and it's for children themselves, not the gatekeepers. (However, this gatekeeper has already spotted several intriguing titles.)

The site will encourage child-to-child sharing with older children discussing their favourite books and authors with the younger ones.

Guardian Books Editor, Claire Armitstead, views the child-to-child sharing element of the site as vital. She said: "When you think of the resource that older friends or siblings represent, it seems astonishing that child-to-child reading gets so little attention. A sibling or a friend stand outside the circle of school, parent and child: you obey a parent, but you look up to an older sibling and you share enthusiasms with friends. In a culture with many different models of what family means, the resource of other children becomes even more valuable. It's with this in mind that the Guardian is launching a children-only website." 

Read the entire press release here.

One of the many wonderful things that I discovered when I started blogging was the Guardian's excellent online literary coverage. I wish the new venture well. Cheers!

I'm on a new reading kick. Using Three Percent's longlist of best translated fiction 2010 (for adults), I started with Jenny Erpenbeck's Visitation, translated from the German by Susan Bernofsky. Megan O'Grady at Vogue writes, "Infused with an arrestingly immediate understanding of Berlin’s past, it’s the tale of a grand summer house on a lake just outside the city whose inhabitants have much to reveal about the ravages and battling ideologies of the twentieth century." An excellent book. I highly recommend it.

Three Percent is an online resource for literature in translation and international literature. It's part of the University of Rochester's translation program. Words Without Borders: The Online Magazine for International Literature is another good site.

Meanwhile, Zoe at Playing by the Book reminded me of the UK's Marsh Award for Children's Literature in Translation. Achockablog highlights the shortlist and winner, announced recently.

"Translation expands our ability to explore through literature the thoughts and feelings of people from another society or another time. It permits us to savor the transformation of the foreign into the familiar and for a brief time to live outside our own skins, our own preconceptions and misconceptions. It expands and deepens our world, our consciousness, in countless indescribable ways."

from Why Translation Matters, by Edith Grossman. Yale University Press, 2010. A paperback edition comes out next month.

The American Library Association sponsors a prize that honors translation (into English) in children's literature. The 2011 Mildred A. Batchelder Award went to the publisher of A Time of Miracles, written by Anne-Laure Bondoux and translated from the French by Y. Maudet. Honors were awarded to the publishers of Departure Time, written by Truus Matti and translated from the Dutch by Nancy Forest-Flier, and Nothing, written by Janne Teller and translated from the Danish by Martin Aitken.

The most recent kids' works in translation that we've read are probably the middle-grade novels of Cornelia Funke's Ghosthunters series.  In very small type on the copyright pages you'll see that Helena Ragg-Kirkby translated the books from the German. I noted a while back that the Ghosthunter books are good read-alouds, and I'm now more aware, after reading Why Translation Matters, that part of the credit, at the minimum, must go to Ragg-Kirkby. Edith Grossman points out, "[w]hat should never be forgotten or overlooked is the obvious fact that what we read in a translation is the translator's writing."

The most prestigious prizes for American children's books were announced this morning at the midwinter meeting of the American Library Association. For more details, more awards, and the titles of the honors books, see this press release from ALA.

Here is a partial list of winners:

Caldecott Medal: A Sick Day for Amos McGee, illustrated by Erin E. Stead and written by Philip C. Stead

Newbery Medal: Moon over Manifest, by Clare Vanderpool

Coretta Scott King Book Awards

• Author Award: One Crazy Summer, by Rita Williams-Garcia
• Illustrator Award: Dave the Potter: Artist, Poet, Slave, illustrated by Bryan Collier and written by Laban Carrick Hill

Geisel Award: Bink and Gollie, by Kate DiCamillo and Alison McGhee; illustrated by Tony Facile

Morris Award: The Freak Observer, by Blythe Woolston

Printz Award: Ship Breaker, by Paolo Bacigalupi

Pura Belpre Award (author): The Dreamer, by Pam Muñoz Ryan; Pura Belpre Award (illustrator): Grandma's Gift, written and illustrated by Eric Velasquez

Schneider Family Book Award

• The Pirate of Kindergarten, written by George Ella Lyon and illustrated by Lynne Avril (ages 0 to 10)
• After Ever After, by Jordan Sonnenblick (ages 11-13)
• Five Flavors of Dumb, by Antony John (teens)

Siebert Informational Book Award: Kakapo Rescue: Saving the World's Strangest Parrot, by Sy Montgomery, with photographs by Nic Bishop

Stonewall Book Award: Almost Perfect, by Bryan Katcher

YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults: Janis Joplin: Rise Up Singing, by Ann Angel

Susan Wyndham, the literary editor of the Sydney Morning Herald,  compiled a list of ''15 Australian books - and some extra suggestions - that every Australian can enjoy if they want to understand our literature, our country and ourselves. Culture is a conversation and knowing these books enables us to talk to each other." You can read Wyndham's list here.

As a followup to Wyndham's list, journalist and children's book expert Judith Ridge rounds up the "15 Australian picture books that everyone should know." She's planning to do the same for middle-grade and YA books, too. Ridge writes, "It is a list that, if you read them all, would go some way towards an understanding of. [...] the preoccupations Australian children's literature, and what those preoccupations say about Australian childhood and adolescence (or perhaps our adult perceptions of and ideas about Australian childhood and adolescence)."

The prolific children's book author Dick King-Smith died earlier this week. King-Smith's book The Sheep-Pig (published in the U.S. as Babe: The Gallant Pig) was the basis for the movie "Babe." Obituary at the Guardian. (news via @pwkidsbookshelf)

Jason Wallace's debut novel, Out of Shadows, won the UK's Costa Children's Book Award. The Herald Scotland reports that Out of Shadows, based on the author's experiences in post-independence Zimbabwe, was turned down by more than 100 agents and publishers before Andersen Press picked it up. The book will be published stateside by Holiday House in April.

Back to the States, Rita Williams-Garcia's middle-grade novel One Crazy Summer has won the Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction. Details at Read Roger, the blog of The Horn Book's editor, Roger Sutton.

Will One Crazy Summer go on to win the Newbery? We'll see soon. The Newbery, Caldecott, Coretta Scott King, etc., are announced on Monday morning, January 10th. The American Library Association provides more information.

Speaking of the Coretta Scott King Award, author Kyra E. Hicks offers some thoughts on potential winners of the prize  for "outstanding books for young adults and children by African American authors and illustrators that reflect the African American experience." See Hicks' blog,