Thank You, Scaredy Squirrel!

Like some others I was the fortunate recipient of a Scaredy Squirrel gingerbread house kit and thought it would be fun for my afterschool club of Book Bloggers.  And so last week those 5th and 6th graders, long time fans of the cautious rodent, took a stab at it. Sadly, their results while tasty were not quite as…er..attractive or long-lasting as others. Check out their post to see what happened, their resourceful alternative, and their review of the new book here.  Thank you, Scaredy and Kids Can Press for a tasty and fun gift!

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Great Elizabeth Wein Interview

‘So in order for Julie to believe, I had to make the reader believe it, too.’

From UK blogger Bookwitch’s  interview with Cody Name Verity author Elizabeth Wein – Careless Talk Costs Lives.  (Warning: read the book before the interview.)

A Secret Society’s Code Cracked

Today I came across a fascinating article about the breaking of a real-life ancient secret society’s code: “They Cracked This 250-Year Code, and Found a Secret Society Inside” and it made me think of a book I recently finished, Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Book Store.  

 

The New York Times Gets that Children’s and YA Books Are Not the Same

My recent rant “Stop Calling Books for Kids ‘Young Adult‘” got a lot of attention. Both from adults who read books for younger readers and weren’t understanding my frustration and from others who work with children and did. Happily, the New York Times sees it as I do and starting December 16th will be splitting their children’s chapter book best seller list into two categories, middle grade and young adult. They are defining middle grade readers as being between 8 and 12 years old. As for young adult, they are defining the category as books published for ages 12-18 while also noting that they are being read by many in their 20s and 30s.  Thank you, New York Times Book Review, for recognizing this.

A Remarkable Young Inventor

I just heard about Kelvin Doe, a 15 year-old Sierra Leonean who is featured in the following video, part of an intriguing series about prodigies.