COD at O’DonnellWeb tagged me for a book meme.
1. Pick up the nearest book.
2. Open to page 123
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the next three sentences.
5. Tag five people, and acknowledge who tagged you.
And here you go:
He cleared his throat. “I am here, as I’m sure you know, because of Albus Dumbledore’s will. Harry, Ron, and Hermione looked at one another.
Yes, folks. Harry’s off the shelf again, here.
If you’re up for it, I tag:
Just in case you missed this, please let me point you to BookTour. While I haven’t spent a lot of time on the site, I’ve been thrilled that by signing up I receive a weekly notification of authors that will be doing presentations or signings in my general vicinity. For instance, Barbara Park will be at a Borders store near here, talking about her new picture book, Ma! There’s Nothing to Do Here! A Word from your Baby-in-Waiting. Not exactly my kids’ cup of tea right now, but I’m sure there will be some very interesting authors that roll through town.
Is live!
Guys Lit Wire exists solely to bring literary news and reviews to the attention of teenage boys and the people who care about them. We are more than happy to welcome female readers - but our main goal is to bring the attention of good books to guys who might have missed them. The titles will be new or old and on every subject imaginable.
Blog Nod: Jen Robinson
When we left, the kids pared down their books to those that they really loved, keeping only (!) five or so boxes. Last night, we found a couple of those boxes and unpacked them to “oohs” and “aahs”. The entire set of Harry Potter, except for those that we acquired in Kona. Weslandia (LOVE that book). The wonderful Reader’s Digest Children’s Atlas that they’ve pored over for years. And our collection of Robert Munsch books. It’s not a complete collection, but we managed to acquire a good number of these short paperbacks during my kids’ growing up years. I sat and read Mortimer (complete with off-key singing) to my 12 and 15 year old. Then Good Families Don’t. And then…they asked me to keep reading! The magic of these books and our read-aloud years stuck with these kids enough that as *teens* (or nearly so) they asked to hear them again. While they won’t be on their nightly reading list as they used to be, those books will always be in their hearts. I count Robert Munsch and all of those nightly read-alouds among the reasons that both of the boys are such avid readers.
Mrs. G over at Derfwad Manor addresses the age-appropriateness of books today, in her ever funny and sarcastic manner. For what it’s worth? I can barely keep up with what my kids are reading these days, but there is a continuous pile (stack, heap, mountain) of books circulating between here and the library. Stephen King’s Dark Tower series has captured Brad, as have biographies of many great rock musicians (which I’m sure have NO drug references at all). Evan is enjoying having a whole new library of books to choose from and yesterday mentioned finding a book called The Seems that he’d been wanting to read. I’ve not heard of it, but he was thrilled. What more could a parent ask for?
Author Nancy Etchemendy is heading off on the trip of a lifetime. She writes:
I was recently invited to join two marine biology expeditions to Antarctica and write one or more children’s books about them. On May 26, 2008, I will step out of the cozy room where I usually spin my tales, and will head south for the first of these expeditions, a month-long voyage aboard the National Science Foundation’s icebreaker Nathaniel B. Palmer.
Nancy will be blogging about the trip as she travels, with a blog specifically for teens and adults, and a second one for her younger readers. Find out more, here.
Nothing wrong with a child thinking her mom is beautiful, right? But a book that helps kids cope with a “new” mommy, all fresh and taut and lifted by the local plastic surgeon? You’ve got to be kidding me.
And, if you want to read about another “alternative” book today, Andrea posts about It’s Just a Plant, here.
Via Jen Robinson, today (April 12th, Beverly Cleary’s birthday) is Drop Everything and Read Day (D.E.A.R.). Here are the highlights, from the D.E.A.R. website:
What is National D.E.A.R. Day?
D.E.A.R. stands for Drop Everything and Read. National D.E.A.R. Day is a special reading celebration to remind and encourage families to make reading together on a daily basis a family priority.Who Is Leading the National D.E.A.R. Day Celebration? The National Education Association (NEA); Parent Teacher Association (PTA); the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), a division of the American Library Association; Reading Rockets; The General Federation of Women’s Clubs (GFWC); the Newspaper Association of America Foundation (NAA); First Book; HarperCollins Children’s Books; and Ramona Quimby.
Sounds like a perfect way to spend a Saturday to me!
Wow. A story told via Google Maps, link by link. I haven’t read beyond the first few bubbles, but it seems like a really time consuming way to publish a story. On the other hand, I could see this type of story being really intriguing to hesitant readers and kids who prefer electronics over paper books. Up next? Maybe a Flat Stanley version?
Robin has a post up about books and whether they should - or shouldn’t - be rated ala movies and TV shows. I’ll bet that this one generates a fair amount of conversation…
