2010 Children’s Festival of Reading – Knoxville

Oh, wow! Look at the great authors appearing at the 2010 Children's Festival of Reading in Knoxville, Tennessee, including one of my son Joe's very favorites - Jack Gantos!

Per the Knox County Public Library website:

The 2010 Children's Festival of Reading will be on May 22 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Make sure to come prepared for all sorts of fantastic fun! There'll be great authors and illustrators, storytellers, musicians, magicians, a mad scientist with crazy water experiments, a hayride, fun craft projects and even a giant inflatable!

It's Not All Flowers and Sausages

Be sure to check out the Picture Book Reading Extravoganza 2010 at It's Not All Flowers and Sausages!

Per Mrs. Mimi, It's Not All Flowers and Sausages is:

"... a blog for TEACHERS WHO ROCK and are frustrated by the day to day drama that gets in the way of our interactions with children. Don't get me wrong, I love my job, but sometimes a girl has gotta vent..."

Mrs. Mimi is workiing down the "Top 100 Picture Books Poll Results" from SchoolLibraryJournal.com, and sharing her learned and enthusiastic opinions with us. What a fabulous idea, and what a wonderful resource. Thanks, Mrs. Mimi!

• Mrs. Mimi at Facebook

• @MrsMimiTeaches at twitter

There's a rogue spammer at Blog Catalog!

Here's what an innocent glance at my inbox netted me just now...



You are evil, ReyJr! :twisted: Everyone who has a Blog Catalog account has received the very same message at one time or another for real.

ReyJr, the rogue Blog Catalog singing spammer (tongue firmly in cheek) with the good sense of humor may be found at reyjr.com and on twitter @ryjr.

If you should cross his path, be sure to click his ads! :lol:

*****

P.S. I didn't delete my header. I just upgraded to Thesis 1.7 and I can't figure out how to add it back! :oops:

Jan Fields on The Role of Dialogue and Narrative at ICL

Jan Fields posted a helpful article entitled "The Role of Dialogue and Narrative" at the Institute of Children's Literature.

The entire read is fascinating, but I found the bit comparing how one would narrate the same scene for younger readers vs. for intermediate readers or teens quite instructional.

(Is it "found it quite instructional" or "found it to be quite instructional"?) Oh my!

Enjoy.

Jan's World of Writing

Follow Jan Fields on twitter @Kidmagwriters

New picture book deal for Tara Lazar!

Be sure to check out Tara Lazar's post The New Deal! over at Writing for Kids (While Raising Them). Congratulations, Tara, on THE MONSTORE! Well deserved, Tara. You've shown us that the dream is alive!

Tara Lazar on twitter @taralazar
Tara Lazar at JacketFlap

• Tara Lazar is represented by The Erin Murphy Literary Agency.

• Her book deal was done with Emily Lawrence at Aladdin/Simon & Schuster.

The Nine Lives of Rotten Ralph by Jack Gantos

It's official! My three year old son Joe is a fool for Rotten Ralph! He adores him and his rotten ways.

Amazon Product Description: Poor Rotten Ralph. His health just isn't what it used to be. Thanks to his rotten ways, he's down to the very last of his nine lives! One more slip and he'll be gone forever, warns the vet. Sarah, Ralph's doting owner, is fiercely determined to keep her cat safe. But how much coddling can Ralph take before he has to do something totally and utterly rotten? In this ninth tale about the most delightfully disobedient cat in town, being naughty has never looked so good to Rotten Ralph. But then again, after a hard day's rotten work, neither does the warmth and safety of Sarah's lap!

Author: Jack Gantos
Illustrator: Nicole Rubel
Reading Level: Ages 4-8
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Books for Children (April 20, 2009) - Submission Guidelines
Publisher Jack Gantos is presently associated with: Farrar Straus Giroux Books for Young Readers "As of January 2010, Farrar Straus Giroux Books for Young Readers, in compliance with The Macmillan Children's Publishing Group's policy, does not accept unsolicited manuscripts.  We recommend finding a literary agent to represent you and your work. "

What is happening here?

My son's favorite park borders an elementary school. I was so moved by a beautiful child that I took this photo from the corner of the playground with my phone.