Janet S. Fox: new official author website. Congratulations to Janet on the release of her debut book, Get Organized Without Losing It (Free Spirit, 2005). (She has been previously published by Highlights and Spider). Janet offers Hot Tips to Get Organized and a Homework Checklist (PDF file). She provides information on her speaking programs. In addition to being an author, Janet is a 9th grade English and middle and high school study skills teacher. She was born in New York City, grew up in Illinois, and makes her home in Texas. Find out more.

“Fundamental is Fun: Reading Gets a Boost from School Book Fairs” by Karina Bland from The Arizona Republic. Find out which books are hot for the book fair crowd. Don’t miss the sidebar on “Mrs. Ayala’s favorites.” Featured authors include David Lubar (author interview).

Notes from the Windowsill: Celebrating Children’s Books Loved By Adult Readers from Wendy E. Betts. March 2006.

Katherine Paterson Wins International Award, $640,000 Prize by Robin Palmer from the Barre Montpelier Times Argus. Katherine has won the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award for Literature. It was established by the Swedish government and is considered “biggest international honor for writers of children’s books.”

Roxane Beauclair Salonen: new official website from the debut author of P Is for Peace Garden (Sleeping Bear Press, April 2005) and First Salmon (Boyds Mills Press, October 2005). Roxane was raised on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation in Poplar Montana and now lives in Fargo, North Dakota.

Subverting Beauty Aesthetics in African American Young Adult Literature by KaaVonia Hinton-Johnson from Multicultural Review.

New teacher’s guides from Tracie Vaughn Zimmer include: poetry: Thanks A Million by Niki Grimes; illustrated by Cozbi A. Cabrera; picture books: The Cat Who Liked Potato Soup by Terry Farish, illustrated by Barry Root; Cha Cha Chimps by Julia Durango, illustrated by Eleanor Taylor; The Night Is Singing by Jacqueline Davies, illustrated by Kyrsten Brooker; This Is the Dream by Diane C. Shore and Jessica Alexander, illustrated by James Ransome; middle grade: Abduction! by Peg Kehret; Confessions of a Closet Catholic by Sarah Darer Littman; Free Baseball by Sue Corbett (author interview); On My Honor by Marion Dane Bauer; young adult: Anyone But You by Lara M. Zeises (author interview); A Bad Boy Can Be Good for a Girl by Tanya Lee Stone (author interview); Born to Rock by Gordon Korman; Hard Love by Ellen Wittlinger (author interview); It’s Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini; Last Dance on Holladay Street by Elisa Carbone (author interview); My Not-So-Terrible Time at the Hippie Hotel by Rosemary Graham (author interview); and Teach Me by R.A. Nelson (author interview). Tracie is the author of Sketches From A Spy Tree, illustrated by Andrew Glass (Clarion, 2005).