Congratulations to Chris Barton, author of The Day-Glo Brothers (Charlesbridge, 2008), on the one-year anniversary of Bartography, a stand-out source for non-fiction children’s book reviews.
Don’t miss the audio production of Gentle’s Holler by Kerry Madden (Recorded Books, 2006)(author interview). SLJ raves, “The performance of narrator Kate Forbes is flawless. She beautifully interprets Livy’s voice and the delivery is as gentle and warm as a summer breeze. Move over, John-Boy Walton—the author has plans for two more books set in Maggie Valley.”
Thank you to Cynsations LJ syndication reader Jo Whittemore (author interview) for cheering the photos of my youngest kitties on my website. Read Jo’s LJ.
Writers looking for a craft-based online class may be interested in The YA Novelist’s Toolbox: An Alternative Approach, taught by Laurie Faria Stolarz (the Blue is for Nightmares series (Llewellyn, 2003-) and Lara M. Zeises (Contents Under Pressure (Laurel Leaf, 2005))(author interview). Despite the course name, the topics that will be covered–writing from the five senses, crafting authentic dialogue, and choosing purposeful point of view, among others–are suitable for beginner and intermediate novelists writing for any age group. The class begins on Wednesday, July 5th, with the first online chat scheduled for the following Wednesday, and will run for six weeks. Students will not be required to critique each other’s work, but will receive in depth critiques from the instructors. For more information, e-mail Laurie (lstolarz (at) msn (dot) com) or Lara (zeisgeist (at) aol (dot) com).
More links for your weekend reading…
AsianParent.com: provides a large selection of Chinese-language books and DVDs for children, 0 to 12 years of age. All products are carefully selected to help parents to educate their children in Chinese language as well as to share their cultural heritage.
Anishinabe-Ojibwe-Chippewa: Culture of an Indian Nation from EDSITEMENT: an educational resource site of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Note: my site is a featured link; two of my books, Jingle Dancer, illustrated by Cornelius Van Wright and Ying-Hwa Hu (Morrow/HarperCollins, 2000) and Rain Is Not My Indian Name (HarperCollins, 2001) feature Anishinabe characters.
Author-Illustrator Mark G. Mitchell: debut site from the creator of such books as Raising La Belle (Eakin, 2002), Seeing Stars: McDonald Observatory, Its Science and Astronomers (Eakin, 2002)(second edition), and The Mustang Professor: The Story of J. Frank Dobie (Eakin, 1993). Features include biography, bibliography, events information, and portfolio. Read a Cynsations interview with Mark.
“The Care and Feeding of Press Releases” by Ami Hendrickson from Absolute Write. Focus includes purpose and preparation, what to include, and target media.
Gadfly in the Ointment: a new LiveJournal from David Lubar (author interview).
“Interview with Linda Sue Park” by Aline Pereira from PaperTigers. See “Life With a Hyphen: Reading and Writing as a Korean-American” by Linda Sue Park from PaperTigers. See also a recent Cynsations interview with Linda Sue.
Kansas Center for the Book from the State Library of Kansas. The KCFB, in conjunction with other state agencies and organizations, will host the Kansas Book Festival–Celebrating Books, Art and Kansas Heritage Sept. 29 to 30, 2006.
“What Name is That?! Names and Identity in Children’s books” by Aline Pereira from PaperTigers. See also PaperTigers new book review section.
“Writing Bugaboos and Hobgoblins – What Are They and Why Should I Be Afraid?” by Jan Fields from The Institute of Children’s Literature. Highlights: passive voice; adverbs; and telling.
More personally, my husband Greg at GregLSBlog writes about his recent novel research trip, and on Spookycyn, I’m talking lately about my power ring and South Texas.