Monday Blurb: Getting Back in the Groove

Welcome to all of our new followers …  As Jen mentioned week before last, I am going to substitute Share a Story 2011 as my “mid-month” roundup of literacy news. There is so much to savor among all of the wonderful posts. I will eventually have a page that has all of the posts in one place, but in the meantime …

• If you want a quick hit, check out Book Dads’ post that offers a review of the week.
• All of the books that people mentioned in posts, comments, podcasts, and videos, are compiled in a list called The Bookshelf at Share a Story.
• Another great source is Eric Von Raepenbusch, who had a summary of every day’s hosts AND answered one of the Writing @ Reading prompts at Happy Birthday Author. All. five. days. Wow!
• Speaking of Writing @ Reading, voting is now open to pick the winners of our book giveaways. Our finalists need your vote!

I cannot say THANK YOU enough to everyone who participated in making this an incredibly special, energizing week. Whether you tweeted or retweeted, wrote a post, added a comment, offered your opinion, shared a video … you made Share a Story awesome. so THANK YOU.

Here are a couple of other items I’ve found in the process of getting back to “normal.” Several go into my resources roundup later this month. Here is one I want to get out today.

Children’s Book Week is around the corner (check the website for the countdown clock). Author / Illustrator Peter Brown has created this adorable poster, and Jeff Kinney (author, illustrator, game designer) has created a Wimpy-kid related Bookmark to commemorate the event.

The Children’s Book Council has also opened voting for the 2011 Children’s Choice Book Awards. The awards are broken by age category: K-2, 3rd-4th, 5th-6th, and teens. This awards program is a joint project of the International Reading Association (IRA) and the CBC, now in its 36th year. The finalists for Book of the Year in the Kindergarten to Second Grade, Third Grade to Fourth Grade, and Fifth Grade to Sixth Grade categories are the books that received the highest number of votes in the IRA-CBC Children’s Choices program in June.  Here is the slate of finalists …

The Children’s Choice Book Award categories and finalists are as follows:

Kindergarten to Second Grade Book of the Year:

• Even Monsters Need Haircuts by Matthew McElligott (Walker)
• Hot Rod Hamster by Cynthia Lord, illustrated by Derek Anderson (Scholastic Press)
• How Rocket Learned to Read by Tad Hills (Schwartz & Wade/ Random House)
• Little Pink Pup by Johanna Kerby (Putnam/Penguin)
• Shark vs. Train by Chris Barton, illustrated by Tom Lichtenheld (Little, Brown)

Third Grade to Fourth Grade Book of the Year:

• Babymouse # 12: Burns Rubber by Jennifer L. Holm and Matthew Holm (Random House)
• Bad Kitty vs. Uncle Murray: The Uproar at the Front Door by Nick Bruel (Roaring Brook/Macmillan)
• Encyclopedia Mythologica: Gods & Heroes by Matthew Reinhart and Robert Sabuda (Candlewick)
• Finally by Wendy Mass (Scholastic Press)
• Lunch Lady and the Summer Camp Shakedown by Jarrett J. Krosoczka (Knopf/Random House)

Fifth Grade to Sixth Grade Book of the Year:

• Big Nate: In a Class by Himself by Lincoln Peirce (HarperCollins)
• It’s a Book by Lane Smith (Roaring Brook/Macmillan)
• The Red Pyramid (The Kane ChroncilesChronicles, Book 1) by Rick Riordan (Disney-Hyperion)
• Smile by Raina Telgemeier (Graphix/Scholastic)
• Zebrafish by Peter H. Reynolds and FableVision (Atheneum/Simon & Schuster)

Teen Choice Book of the Year:

• Burned (House of Night, Book 7) by P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast (St. Martin’s Griffin/Macmillan)
• Fang (A Maximum Ride Novel) by James Patterson (Little, Brown)
• Mockingjay (The Final Book of The Hunger Games) by Suzanne Collins (Scholastic Press)
• Spirit Bound (Vampire Academy, Book 5) by Richelle Mead (Razorbill/Penguin)
• Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan (Dutton/Penguin)

Author of the Year:

• Cassandra Clare for Clockwork Angel (The Infernal Devices, Book 1) (McElderry/Simon & Schuster)
• Suzanne Collins for Mockingjay (The Final Book of The Hunger Games) (Scholastic Press)
• Jeff Kinney for Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Ugly Truth (Amulet/Abrams)
• Stephenie Meyer for The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner (Megan Tingley/Little, Brown)
• Rick Riordan for The Lost Hero (The Heroes of Olympus, Book 1) (Disney-Hyperion)

Illustrator of the Year:

• Robin Preiss Glasser for Fancy Nancy and the Fabulous Fashion Boutique (HarperCollins)
• Loren Long for Of Thee I Sing: A Letter to My Daughters (Knopf/Random House)
• Nancy Tillman for Wherever You Are: My Love Will Find You (Feiwel & Friends/Macmillan)
• David Wiesner for Art & Max (Clarion/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
• Mo Willems for Knuffle Bunny Free: An Unexpected Diversion (Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins)

As I neaten things up in my March Madness bracket – over at Share a Story things will be quiet around here this week.