Monica Edinger's Blog, page 115
July 5, 2010
That Summer Reading Slump
The question of the summer reading slump came up during the NPR show on Friday. My response was to advocate for programs that turn kids into book owners, those programs that buy books for families and kids who might not otherwise have books in the home. Give them fresh new books that they get to read and keep forever!
While I definitely think kids should read over the summer, especially at-risk kids, but I also think it is terribly important to put them in total charge of what they read. ...
July 2, 2010
Live! On Point! All About Summer Reading! For Kids! Of Course!
Whoopee! At 11 AM EST today, I'm going to be on the NPR program, On Point, along with Esme Raji Codell and Albert Bitterman, cluing in host Tom Ashbrook and his radio audience about some great summer reading books for kids. If you can't hear me live they will have the audio up shortly after the broadcast.
Coming up up with the requested "seven or eight" recommended titles was impossible and so I ended up with nine. (And now that I see that my fellow critics have even longer lists, well, I...
June 30, 2010
Initials (with Apologies to the Creators of Hair)
MRE took the ACELA*
Down to DC USA
When she got there
What did she see?
The librarians of America at ALA
ALA ALSC
DC 95 DS**
ALA NCB***
DC 97 DS
ALA BBB****
ALA AAA*****
ALA CSK
DC 99 DS
ALA PPP ******
ALA FFF *******
DC ACELA
NYC 62 DS
*poetic license
**degrees in the shade
*** Newbery Caldecott Banquet
**** books books books
***** authors authors authors
******publishers publishers publishers
******* friends friends friends
Come to Dance the Macabray (with Book Carts)
I first heard about ALA's Book Cart Drill Team competition after Jon Scieszka and Mo Willems stumbled upon it a few years back and took over the commentary. This year I finally managed to drop by just it time to see this group. (I left after this, but heard from Mo that there was one more group that did some sort of John Cage sort of thing. Anyone see it and can tell us more?)
June 25, 2010
Beautiful, Beautiful Books
Thank you, Alison Morris, for directing me to the book sculptures of Su Blackwell. Here are a few that are particularly apt for this blog, but the others are extraordinary too, many from classical children's stories.
June 24, 2010
Super Agents
My agent Stephen Barbara lets us in on what two of his Foundry colleagues are looking for. (via Kathi Appelt).
June 22, 2010
June 20, 2010
The Two Umas' "Out of the Way! Out of the Way!"
When Uma Krishnaswami asked me if I would like to participate in a blog tour I was intrigued. I've never done one, but the featured book (illustrated by another Uma, Uma Krishnaswamy) looked charming online and was being brought out by the admirable Indian publisher Tulika Books. So I said yes.
I'm glad I did. A clever cumulative tale for very young children, the book is a pleasure to read and view. Having never been to India I can't weigh in on authenticity, but it comes across as very...
Sin, Formality, and Snicket
How does writing for children compare to writing for adults?
They feel like the same thing to me. I think of children's literature as being a sort of genre, so writing a children's book is like writing a mystery novel – some things you have to put into it, otherwise it doesn't qualify. And there are things that don't belong in it or else it doesn't qualify, but other than that, it feels like the same thing.
Daniel Handler in conversation at the LA Times.
Trailer for "Library of the Early Mind"
I remember learning about this intriguing documentary, enjoying the production blog, and then kind of forgetting about it as it was still being created. But now it is all done and the first trailer is just up. Not only is it full of familiar names and faces, but it looks beautifully edited and produced. I sure wish I could get to the October 19th screening at Harvard, but I can't (school and all that). Hopefully more will be announced soon, say one in NYC.
