Cynsations

Diary Of A Fairy Godmother Online Diary Activity

Hyperion Books for Children is pleased to celebrate the publication of Esmé Raji Codell’s Diary Of A Fairy Godmother (June 2005), by encouraging burgeoning writers (ages 9-14) to create and utilize an online diary.

This interactive, “relationship-building” marketing campaign directly encourages reading and journaling, gives kids immediate rewards in the form of sweepstakes entries for their participation, and introduces a witchingly delightful cast of characters from the book to future fans.

Codell explains, “I am so glad children have an inspiring tool like the internet to help them write down all that they notice, and this new generation of diary-keepers can reach out and share what they create with others. Old-fashioned or new-fangled, whether it’s called a journal, a diary, a log or a blog, it’s all the same: the chance to capture the magic of everyday life in print, the chance to tell ourselves and others the story of who we were, right now or sometime in the future. It’s quite a trick.”

Perfect for a summer activity that will keep kids’ creative juices flowing, The Diary of a Fairy Godmother Online Diary Writing Sweepstakes will take place in cyberspace from June 15 through August 31, 2005.

Cynsational News & Links

The Lady and Red: Despite Illness an Author Stands Out, Just Like Her Subject by David Mehegan from The Boston Globe. About Amy Butler Greenfield‘s ”A Perfect Red: Empire, Espionage, and the Quest for the Color of Desire.”

“Cataloging the Internet” by Chitra Soundar, in the Electronic Writing section of Writing Tips (Taming the Internet monster) from the Institute of Children’s Literature.

Author K.L. Going writes that her new book, The Liberation of Gabriel King (G.P. Putnam, 2005), launched this past Thursday, June 16th. She’s received great reviews already, including a star from Kirkus!

Anne Miranda writes to announce her Web site. She is the author of 16 books and published by such houses as Hyperion, Harcourt, Little Brown, and Boyd’s Mills.

Sandra McLeod Humphrey writes that she has been selected by the Church and Synagogue Library Association to receive the “Helen Keating Ott Award for Outstanding Contribution to Children’s Literature” on July 24th in Portland, Oregon, at their awards banquet.

I’d like to send out a “Happy Father’s Day!” to Deb Allie‘s dad. Debora’s first book, The Meanest Girl (Roaring Brook, 2005), was recently recommended on cynsations.