KBWT - Magazines

 

I decided - last week - to feature magazines on KBWT and then, I saw this cute little clip on Facebook and that led me to my friend's Instagram account which reminded me that my LinkedIn page could use some oomph so I went on YouTube and discovered the Easter videos I uploaded and then I got a.... never mind.

So here a week - and a day- later are some links to kids' magazines that offer parents/educators information, some games and info on how to subscribe.

Let's start with that staple of pediatrician's offices, Highlights.
 https://www.highlights.com/
Highlights offers THREE magazines, Hello! is for babies through 2 year olds and it's so cute!
High Five! is for children up to age 6.
The Highlights that we all know and love claims to be for children between the ages of 6 and 12.  The magazine does offer stories and articles and different reading difficulties.  Personally, I think children tire of just about everything except the hidden pictures - NO ONE gets tired of the Hidden Pictures, EVER - by the time they are 10.  No matter.  This is a solid, well designed, advertisement free, magazine for the whole family.

Next up is MY favorite family of Kids Magazines from Cricket Magazine.
 

 The link below leads you to descriptions of all their magazines from the adorably durable Babybug (ages 0 to 3) through Cicada, a literary magazine for teens.  Besides award-winning literary magazines for all ages, Cricket offers FIVE non-fiction magazines for kids - magazines that encourage learning through well-written and well illustrated articles about the world; science, history, math, cultures, geography - AWESOME!
http://www.cricketmag.com/kids_home.asp 

Kiki Magazine is geared to girls between the ages of 10 and 14.  There are no advertisements in Kiki and the articles center around fashion, finance and entrepreneurship.  Yeah!  Heady stuff!  But the magazine is colorful and age appropriate and no one needs to worry about an advice column that discusses "uncertain" topics.
 
Here's another magazine that targets the same demographic as Kiki -
New Moon Magazine for Girls
This looks amazing!  I have never seen this magazine in person but the website is cool.  Take a look, all you girls between the ages of 8 and 14.  There is something in here for you.  And it says that the editors and a lot of the authors are girls themselves.

Which brings us to....
Stone Soup Magazine 
Since 1973, Stone Soup magazine has been entirely written and illustrated by kids!  Whoa! And they publish books by kids, too.

BOYS! 
 Once boys hit 11 or 12, there is a dearth of magazines geared to their interests.
SI for Kids - mirrors the adult Sports Illustrated, without the swim suits and with kid-friendly advertisement.
Boys Life - the official magazine of the Boy Scouts offers a lot of great articles about the outdoors, sports, technology and the values of the Boy Scouts.  It was a long time ago, but I LOVED reading my brother's copy of Boys Life.

MORE!
There are dozens of magazines for children and teens - science magazines, sports magazines, classroom magazines that cater to teachers.  A lot of non-fiction magazines offer children's versions, such as National Geographic Kids and National Geographic Little Kids.

And don't forget Ranger Rick and Ranger Rick Jr (formerly Your Big Backyard) and Humpty Dumpty and Boys Quest and Hopscotch...  I could go on and on but it took me over a week to get THIS post up.  I'll stop now.

Patterson's Latest and KBWT

Jame Patterson - whew!  When does that guy sleep?  I bet he has electrodes attached to his brain to transcribe his dreams so when he wakes up, he has new ideas.

In July, his latest book series begins, The Homeroom Diaries.  Margaret "Cuckoo" Clarke, back from a brief sojourn in a mental hospital, tries to get all the warring factions of her high school to bury the hatchet.  Really, that's all you need to know.  The possibilities for mayhem that exist in that premise are infinite, indeed.  Patterson's great-grandchildren will inherit this franchise when all high schools will be virtual - but the problems will be the same.  Sigh.  Unless "Cuckoo" is successful and real teens use her stories as a model of peaceful behavior.  Hope springs!

Kids Book Website Tuesday!!!
1.  Cops 'n' Kids  Last Wednesday, I visited the Cops'n'Kids Reading Room on the Southside Northampton Community College campus.  What an inviting - and exciting - place!  While I was there talking to Bev Bradley, who manages this organization, two children came in with parents and walked out with FREE their-very-own-to-keep books.  Studies have shown that children who grow up with books in their homes, books that STAY in their homes, have an advantage in education.  As a librarian, I worry about the unintended slight to libraries a little bit.  I know and understand the deep attachment that children have for their very own books and I applaud Cops-n-Kids for making book ownership a possibility for everyone.  If you live in the Lehigh Valley, visit the Reading Room on Wednesdays or Saturdays.  If you live elsewhere, look at what they do to copy, or find a similar group near you.

2 Slimekids   So this site just might KBWT extinct.  Andy Fine, the creator of SlimeKids collects book review sites, book trailers, links to authors websites and more on this one website.  Thanks, Andy.  Now, what will I do on Tuesdays?

It Started!!!! Battle of the Books

SLJ's Battle of the Books started already.  I missed the first two matches. The results of Round 1, Match 2 are here:  Round 1, Match 1, click here.

Here's Match 2.  Just guess which one wins.

 Sometimes, the best part of each match is the anticipation.  In these cases, since I haven't even had a chance to look at one of the entries in each match, the judge's comments will help me a lot.

Check out the brackets below.  I am ready for the next Match and I predict..... Eleanor and Park will win!  Except that Doll Bones was awesome, too.  Glad I'm not a judge!

Squirrel Appreciation Day - KBWT

Children's Book Almanac is celebrating Squirrel Appreciation Day by spotlighting Scaredy Squirrel!

Here's a pic of Scaredy and a buddy taken from the Scaredy Squirrel Fan Page on Facebook!

If you don't already know Scaredy Squirrel, this warning poster will give you an idea of his priorities.

Here's Scaredy's website - just for some extremely careful fun.

Baby Bear

Watch this sweet book trailer for Kadir Nelson's new book, Baby Bear.

The book is on sale today, Jan. 7, 2014.  Check your favorite bookstore - like this one.  

Karen Chace and Mackin BookTalk- KBWT

It's Kids Book Website Tuesday.  Thanks to Chaz Kiernan, storyteller, author, blogger and book lover supreme, I can offer you the blog of Karen Chace.  Right now, she is doing clean-up on her blog.  So I linked to a post that is all about Fall, school, stories and books.  Check it out.

Karen links to storytelling sites, school websites, educator's resources and lots and lots of other fun places.  I am teaching Preschool First Day again and Karen's links to scarecrow resources is sure to come in handy - with fingerplays, a host of scarecrow books, craft ideas and more.

Finding a blogger who takes the time to research a plethora of useful links is a gift.

Mackin - a book jobber that sells primarily to schools and libraries - has a BookTalk site for teachers, parents and children.  Want to more more about the book Creepy Carrots?  (One of my favorite carrot books, by the way).  Mackin BookTalk gives a summary of the book, information on the author, a place where readers can rate the books they read AND suggestions for more age appropriate books on similar subjects.

You can choose books from various States Best list for the most current school year, too.  Alas, Pennsylvania is not among those states.  But, wait, Pennsylvania is a Commonwealth!  Hmmm, must think about this.  Never mind.  The other states pick excellent books, too, I'm sure.

And now for your convenience, I will separate out the sites I've linked to in my blog above:

Karen Chace and her excellent list of Fall resources can be found here: http://karenchace.blogspot.com/2011/10/school-daze-school-daze-ii.html

Chaz Kiernan's website is here:  lostdollar.net

Mackin BookTalk lives at this URL: http://mackinbooktalk.com/

Peter Brown's website - he's the illustrator of Creepy Carrots - can be found here.   http://www.peterbrownstudio.com/books/#.Ui83V7x4K_g

Barefoot Books

Forget all blog-related "schedules".  I will post what I want when I want.  This week's KBWT is KBWThursday.  (I was off doing something else on Tuesday.)

Barefoot Books has been one of my favorite publishers since they arrived on the scene.  Their folklore anthologies are attractive and fun to read.  Barefoot Books is committed to providing colorful books that provide children with access to diverse cultures and activities.

Visit their Kids page to download craft activities, watch videos and listen to stories.

Jessica Day George - HMH Books for Young Readers

Just so you know, when I feature a publisher's website I get no remuneration.  I just feature those websites because I like them.

Today, for Kids Book Website Tuesday, I offer you the HMH Books for Young Readers Blog.   This is a book review blog touting the latest and greatest of HMH's offerings.  You can watch book trailers.  You can choose to view only Teen titles or Kids titles or both and there are categories among all these books for you to choose from.  The blog is colorful and a teensy bit interactive.  I like it.

I also want to feature an author today.  I just finished Jessica Day George's Wednesdays in the Tower, and my reaction to the ending was WHATTTT!!!???  Because we are left hanging and that is almost exactly what happens.  Read the book - or if you hate suspense - wait until ALL the Castle books are written and read them in one fell swoop. Or, and this is my choice, read them one by one and THEN in one fell swoop. Anyway,  I checked out Jessica's website and, from there, her blog.  If you liked Tuesdays at the Castle, you will thoroughly enjoy Wednesdays in the Tower. Check out the pages!

Grace Lin -KBWT

It's Tuesday!! Time for a Kids' Book Website.

Check out  Grace Lin's website.  Grace wrote Starry River of the Sky, which was a Battle of the Kids Book contestant.  I loved it.  But I have liked Grace's picture books and chapter books for several years.  Her Where the Mountain Meets the Moon was a Newbery Honor Book.

Her website offers activities based on her books, Chinese lessons, a link to her blog and a bio.

And here is a book trailer for her novel for 3rd and 4th grades, Dumpling Days, the third novel about a Chinese American girl named Pacy.

KBWT - The Wielded Pen

So, this week I am early.  Last week KBWT did not even happen. So, stop complaining ;)!

I can't remember how I stumbled across this superb story time website.  The Wielded Pen is amazing and I know I will use it again and again.  Here you will find story time plans for public and school librarians all complete and ready to use!!!!  The blogster, Dorothy, does such a wonderful job, too.  Preschool teachers, Sunday school teachers and homeschooling moms will also find The Wielded Pen enjoyable and useful.



And excellent children's book reviews are a major part of this blog.  So check out The Wielded Pen today.

Out of Sync KBWT

This week is out of sync.  On Tuesday, I thought it was Monday -missed an appointment on Monday - sigh.

So today, I want to remind you about figment - a writing and reading website for teens. Which is the kind of thing I usually share on Tuesday.  Out of sync, like I said.

Here it is -  figment.com - a website for young writers and a great place to learn about hot books for young adults - 15 and up! Some are fine for younger readers.  I just want you to know this is a site you can grow with.

Sign up for their weekly newsletter.  Today, I took a quiz to see if I have ESP. (I'm Possibly Psychic - which is better than clueless, I guess.)  But, you can write fanfic to win prizes; enter contests of all kinds; learn about awesome new books, films, music and TV shows - all of which require good writers. 

Check it out and have fun. 

Is it Tuesday?

Is it Tuesday?  I.... yes, I believe it is.  So for today's Kids Book Website Tuesday, I'd like to feature the - Ta Dah - Library of Congress.

The repository for all things literary here in the US of A has a literacy program known as the Curious George Campaign.  The campaign is designed to offer simple suggestions to parents and educators for incorporating reading everywhere.  This site does not have a lot of moving parts or colorful pictures but it is a gateway site.  You might get hooked on books.  Not such a bad habit.

While wandering around the Library of Congress' site, check out Read.gov.  Read books written just for Read.gov visitors.  Or read children's books from long ago.  Learn about this year's National Ambassador for Young People's Literature, Walter Dean Myers.  And watch author webcasts.  Yeah, the Library of Congress is big, beautiful, full of books, and awesome.

But wait, there's more!  More KBWT, that is, not more Library of Congress.  You will have to explore the L of C, yourselves.  That job is too big for one blogger. 

While wandering around the web, I found Edmonton Public Library's delightful pdf booklet "100 Great Books to Read Together."  The booklet offers lists of books to share with babies, toddlers and preschoolers.  There are even spaces to write in your child's favourite (note the extra "u") titles and reading times.  So cute!! Public libraries rock all over North America! And the world!  Print this booklet out today.

KBWT - The Children's Book Review

At this time of year I troll Kids' Book Websites to see which great titles I missed during the past 11 months.  Every year there are so many good books out there.

Websites and e-newsletters, like today's featured site, The Children's Book Review, are so helpful to librarians, teachers, parents, reading specialists, booksellers - oh, and young readers, too - who want to keep up with books for young people.

The above link will lead you to the latest newsletter for this website.  Articles include, Holiday Favorites, Best YA, Kids and Questions: Books for Explaining How Things Work and links lead to the New York Times list of Notable Children's Books of 2012, among other useful articles.

Do yourself a favor and scroll down to this month's Book Giveaways and enter.  You might get lucky!

So catch up on the best books for giving and for reading.  Check out The Children's Book Review, today.

KBWT - Twenty by Jenny

Time to revisit one of my early website recommendations - especially since book gift-giving season is right around the corner.  Written by Jennifer M. Brown, a current writer for School Library Journal and Kirkus Reviews - (ok, I'm impressed) -, Twenty by Jenny offers lists of classic books for 4 different age groups.   She reviews books monthly and you can subscribe to her online newsletter for updates.

Check out her blog, for Encounters of the Literary Kind, and more in-depth kids' books news.  There is a delightful background look at the beginnings of Bear Has a Story to Tell by Philip C. and Erin E.Stead on Jenny's blog.

KBWThurs. Carol Hurst - Busy Town

Whoa! the past two weeks have been chaotic as most people on the East Coast know.  Dad's in the hospital with pneumonia.  I'd like to blame Sandy but I don't think a hurricane can cause pneumonia.  So there's been a lot of to-ing and fro-ing.

In the meantime, family members are arriving from all over because Dad is pretty sick.  Poor Dad! 

Anyway, KBWT did not happen this week but I just found a website that I am going to use A LOT!  Carol Hurst's Children's Literature Site.  Teachers and children's activity leaders will LOVE this site.  Helpful  reviews, booklists, a newsletter, links to other helpful sites, lesson plans!  So much useful well-organized stuff.

I needed a resource list for cities and towns because today is World Town Planning Day and Carol Hurst's site had an excellent list with books I SHOULD have remembered to include in my program tonight.  I just signed up for Carol's newsletter so that I never forget this site again.  YAY!

And World Town Planning Day reminds me of one of my favorite towns - Richard Scarry's Busy Town!!  CBS has a great site based on their Busy Town Mysteries show.   Check it out

Books of Wonder - Help!

Today for KBWT I am featuring Books of Wonder, the wonderful children's book store in New York City.  Mid-Atlantic book lovers have been able to meet so many of their favorite authors because of this great store.  Visitors to the Big Apple have made a stop at this store a MUST. 

Last year, Books of Wonder lost the tenant who helped pay the bookstore's bills and now, Books of Wonder may close.  NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

There is a movement afoot to save Books of Wonder - more about that later.

For now, delve into the virtual shelves of this treasure of a store.   Look at the photos of authors and events.  Gaze with wonder at the framed artwork.  Check out upcoming events.  Look at the vintage titles, the World of Oz collection and more, more, more.

OK, now about saving the store!  Books of Wonder has started a fundraiser on Indiegogo to raise enough money to save the store.  Donate as little as $10 and receive something from Books of Wonder.  For $25, you receive a Robert Sabuda pop-up notecard!!!  The more you give the more amazing the thank you gifts become.  Awesome. 

Just click here to find out how you can keep this national treasure open and available to everyone who visits NYC.  Someday, that will be YOU!

KBWT - Happy Birthday, Clifford!

Clifford, the Big Red Dog, is 50 years old!  Yikes!!! That is one old puppy - to say nothing of BIG!  So go to Scholastic.com and send Clifford a birthday card.  Play Clifford-y games.  Print out Clifford coloring pages.  Enter the Clifford Sweepstakes.  That's our Kids Book Website for today.

Scholastic Publishers had a BIG birthday party yesterday for the best dog ever!

KBWT - Lititz Kid-Lit Festival

So today I am featuring a local - sort of - Children's Book Festival - the Lititz Kid Lit Festival.

 

The line-up of authors showing up for this event is awesome - Nick Bruel, A. S. King, Daniel Kirk, Amy Ignatow, Michael Beil and more.  Saturday looks like the day to attend.  Guess who is working at my very part-time job that weekend?   Sigh.  

For people unfamiliar with PA, that's where Lititz is - in Lancaster County, Amish Country.  While in Lititz, visit the Wilbur Chocolate factory and the Sturgis pretzel factory.   The festival is sponsored by Aaron's Books on Main Street in Lititz.  Stop by and say thank you!

If you decide to attend the whole weekend, I'd like to suggest the Forgotten Seasons B and B, about a mile out of town.  It's so cozy and welcoming. 

BTW, for actual book related websites - it is Tuesday, you know - check out Nick Bruel's website(s) and Daniel Kirk's website (for the picture book crowd) to say nothing of Amy's, A. S.'s and Michael's websites (for middle grade and YA readers).  They all offer something fun and cool.

KBWT - The Inquisitor's Apprentice

My First Fall Giveaway is still on!  5 YA books can be yours - FREE!  See my post from Sept. 9th for details.

In honor of that giveaway, my KBWT this week is the home of The Inquisitor's Apprentice by Chris Moriarty.  The book is, as Betsy Bird has proclaimed, "awesome".  But the website is awesome, too, with historical notes and background on the characters and the setting.

Just one of Mark Edward Geyer's illustrations.

Sacha lives in the tenements of NYC at the turn of the 20th Century and he can see magic when it is cast.  This makes him a perfect candidate as an apprentice to the energetic and enigmatic Inquisitor, NYPD's Number One investigator into Magical Crimes.  Sacha's Jewish background, the ethnic potpourri that make up the tenements, the realistic social hierarchy and inequities of that time and place all support a truly suspenseful first book in what, I hope, will be a long-lived series.  The ending leaves us all hanging because Sacha's first case has endangered all he loves.  I can't wait for the second book.

Moriarty incorporates some very well-known early 20th century historical characters in this book, casting some as villains and others as puppets or heroes.  Historical fantasy is a wonderful way to feed readers some facts with their fiction.

Check out the website!  Moriarty provides a lot of background on the site.  Teachers and parents will appreciate the historical research into the time period AND into the historical figures featured in the book.  Young readers can find out about the structure behind the magic workers that populate Sacha's world.  The illustrations by Mark Edward Geyer are awesome as well.  The work AWESOME should be described like this;  "adj. Read The Inquisitor's Apprentice to fully understand what this word means."

The second book, The Watcher in the Shadows comes out in April of 2013.  So hard to wait!!!

Want to win an Advanced Reader's Copy of The Inquisitor's Apprentice?   Click here for details.

3+ for KBWT

From Jama's Alphabet Soup's blog. I love the little feet!

 This is such a pretty blog!  Excellent lay-out, lovely photos and scads and scads of book reviews.  Add Jama's Alphabet Soup to your list of Kids Book Websites.  You won't be sorry.

I found Jama's blog by looking at THIS site, 100 Best Book Blogs for Kids, Tweens and Teens.  What a treasure trove of literary superb-ity!  BTW, while you are looking at all those amazing blogs, click on Study Hall to find ALL kinds of education related links - about nutrition and Twitter feeds and history blogs and websites and teacher resources.  Onlineschools.org looks pretty darn interesting.  I must investigate further.

Jama's blog appears to concentrate on picture books.  (On a closer look, I realize it covers a lot of different things.) Onlineschools concentrates on everything.   For book reviews of elementary through high school titles, check out BooksForKids.  This blog features excerpts of the books, an excellent marketing device.  Picture books for primary grades, "chapter" books (is that actually a literary designation, or just what kids call them?) for older readers, the blogger offers a potpourri of book selections.