Congratulations to one of my Vermont College/UI&U MFA students, Marguerite Houle, recipient of the Houghton Mifflin Scholarship, as well as to Stephanie Green, recipient of the Anita Silvey Scholarship and Sarah Sullivan, recipient of the Harcourt Post Graduate Scholarship!

Congratulations to Tanya Lee Stone, whose upcoming novel, A Bad Boy Can Be Good For A Girl (Wendy Lamb/Random House, 2006), is a School Library Journal Book of the Week (read the review)!

Kat’s Eye: musings, rants, and raves on writing, balancing work and family, and life after the MFA: from Kim Winters.

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe: a CBC Teacher Movie Review by Monica Edinger.

Clara Dunkle’s Advice On Storytelling and Writing Fiction offers articles on the Basics of Fiction Writing, Writing Fictional Characters, Composing Dialog, Creating Fantasy Worlds, Suggestions for Adult Writers, and Suggestions for Young Writers.

Excerpt: Broken China by Lori Aurelia Williams (Simon & Schuster, 2005): hear the author read from the novel from National Public Radio. Lori is from Austin.

Author D. Anne Love’s Web site is newly redesigned by Erik Kuntz of 2 Bad Mice Design. D. Anne’s books include The Puppeteer’s Apprentice (Simon & Schuster/McElderry, 2003); The Secret Prince (Simon & Schuster/McElderry, 2005); Semiprecious (Simon & Schuster/McElderry, 2006); and Of Numbers and Stars: The Story of Hypatia (Holiday House, 2006)(note: Hypatia the first woman mathematician).

I was heartened to read on Big A little A about an event sponsored by the Anti-Defamation League, which involved Muslim, Jewish, and Roman Catholic children in New York coming together to paint pictures of Jerusalem. The event was inspired by Jerusalem Sky: Stars, Crosses, and Crescents by Mark Podwal (Doubleday, 2005), which was one of my picks for Cynsational Books of 2005.

The YA Novel and Me: author Gail Giles‘ LJ weighs in on recent reads, including Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan (Knopf, 2006), Sandpiper by Ellen Wittlinger (Simon & Schuster, 2005)(read excerpt), Rainbow Party by Paul Ruditis (Simon & Schuster, 2005), and Open Ice by Pat Hughes (Random House, 2005).

“When Are You Going to Write A Novel for Adults?” by Gennifer Choldenko from Children’s Book Council Magazine. Gennifer is the author of 2005 Newbery Honor Book Al Capone Does My Shirts (Putnam, 2004), and Notes From A Liar And Her Dog (Putnam, 2001). Her debut picture book, How To Make Friends With A Giant, illustrated by Amy Walrod (Putnam, 2006), will be followed by a new novel in spring 2007.