CBC Showcase: Learning About Families. Highlighted titles include Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie by Jordan Sonnenblick (Scholastic, 2004)(excerpt). Read a Cynsations interview with Jordan.

Visit Julia Durango’s new author website, designed by Lisa Firke of Hit Those Keys. Julia’s books include Cha-Cha Chimps, illustrated by Eleanor Taylor (Simon & Schuster, 2006) and Angels Watching Over Me, illustrated by Lisa Klevin (Simon & Schuster, 2007).

Congratulations to Heidi Roemer on her new book, What Kind of Seeds Are These? (NorthWord Books, 2006) and her new author website! Read a Cynsations interview with Heidi Roemer.

“Wise Words, Perfect Pictures, and How to Get Them Published,” the second annual fall conference of Southwest Texas SCBWI will be from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Nov. 11 at St. Phillips College in San Antonio. Featured speakers include: Newbery honor author Marion Dane Bauer (author interview); agent Jennifer Jaeger from Andrea Brown Literary Agency; editor Lauren Velevis from HarperCollins; editor Alyssa Eisner Henkin from Simon & Schuster. See also Fingerprints Newsletter & Blog from Southwest Texas SCBWI.

Visit Robin Friedman‘s newly redesigned website! Robin’s books include: The Silent Witness: A True Story of the Civil War (Houghton Mifflin, 2005); How I Survived My Summer Vacation And Lived to Write the Story (Cricket, 2000); and The Girlfriend Project (Bloomsbury, 2007). The designer was Lisa Firke of Hit Those Keys, who also designed my own site.

Congratulations to Debbi Michiko Florence on the sale of her first book, a nonfiction activity book on China for the Kaleidoscope Kids series, to Ideals Publishing. Read Debbi’s LJ.

Congratulations to Deborah Lynn Jacobs on the publication of her novel Powers (Roaring Brook, 2006). From the promotional copy: “When Gwen and Adrian meet, they unlock each other’s latent psychic powers. It’s too bad they can’t stand each other, don’t trust each other, and do everything they can to manipulate each other. Will they use their power to save lives? Or will it destroy them both? Written in alternating voices, this is a compelling, suspenseful novel about power in all its forms—-psychic, physical, sexual, romantic.”

“Plastic Flowers and Channelled Raisins” a talk given by editor Arthur A. Levine at a conference of Florida SCBWI from Arthur’s Blog.

Thanks to the following Cynsations LJ syndication readers for their recent comments: tamark, shelleybecker, mountainmist, and d_michiko_f cheering the release of Santa Knows (Dutton, 2006), literaticat for acknowleding her link, and azang for letting me know that feed troubles aren’t limited to my own.