I remember going to the library every Saturday morning for the children’s reading group, and I remember picking out books that had a cool gold seal on the cover (Newbery Book Award winners). I always thought how special children must be because we got the section at the front of the library by the entrance. In my innocence, it never even occurred to me this was so all the librarians could watch us.

I remember Ms. Susan reading to a small group of children every Saturday morning and sometimes during the week. She had the most beautiful voice I’d ever heard, except for my mom’s, of course.

At some point, I thought I was too old to sit in the group of smaller kids, and decided to browse the books in the older kids section, but I never strayed out of hearing distance of Ms. Susan’s voice. 

And as soon as I was old enough to check out books from the grown up sections, I remember wondering if it would be okay to still browse books in the children’s sections. Sadly, my childhood library has been replaced with a newer, technologically-savvy library that doesn’t have the children’s section right in the front by the entrance. The library just doesn’t have the same charm it had when I was a child. Maybe it was Ms. Susan, maybe it was the children’s section being up at the front, maybe it was one of the places I could be by myself without having to be near a related adult. I don’t know…but I miss that old library – or maybe I just miss it because this was the place I came into my own when it came to reading.

I missed an announcement about Children’s Book week, which was May 12-18. When I saw this announcement, I started thinking about some of the books I remembered fondly as a child, and then went down the path of remembering the library. This in turn made me think about some of my favorite books:

Pickle Juice by Patty Wilcott
Are you there God, its me, Margaret by Judy Blume
ALL the Nancy Drews
Ramona and her Father by Beverly Clearly
Dicey’s Song by Cynthia Voigt

I thought it might be helpful to give some history and list some of the winners in the Children’s Book world. Its difficult to know what books children will enjoy and which books will turn them off.

So, without further ado, I’d like you to meet Franklin K Matthiews (I wish I could provide a picture, but none exist online that I could find).

In 1912, the librarian of the Boy Scouts of American, Franklin K Matthiews decided it was time to promote higher standards in Children’s Books. He proposed a Children’s Book Week, which would be supported by publishers, booksellers, and librarians.

In 1944, the newly-established Children’s Book Council assumed responsibility for administering Children’s Book Week. The CBC has developed materials and promoted and encouraged local celebrations of Book Week ever since. In addition, the CBC serves as a year-round promotion and information center about children’s books and children’s book publishing.

Here are a listing of award winning children’s books to help you choose from:

2008 Children’s Choice Book Awards: 2008 Winners and Finalists
The awards program is based on Children’s Choices, a joint project of the International Reading Association (IRA) and the Children’s Book Council since 1975. Publishers submit hundreds of titles to be evaluated and voted on by 10,000 children. Throughout the school year, five review teams, located in different regions of the United States, work with their local classroom teachers and school librarians to incorporate the books into classroom activities. The most popular 99-100 titles, as voted on by the children whose teachers are involved with the project and tabulated in March by the Team Leaders and the CBC, are announced at the IRA Annual Convention in April/May. The list is designed for use not only by teachers, librarians, administrators, and booksellers, but also by parents, grandparents, caregivers, and everyone who wishes to encourage young people to read for pleasure.

• Kindergarten to Second Grade Winner: Frankie Stein
• Grades 3-4 Winner: Big Cats: Hunters of the Night
• Grades 5-6 Winner: Encyclopedia Horrifica: The Terrifying TRUTH! About Vampires, Ghosts, Monsters, and More:
• Winner Illustrator of the Year: Ian Falconer for Olivia Helps with Christmas
• Winner Author of the Year: J.K. Rowling for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

The Newbery Medal
The Newbery Medal honors the year’s most distinguished contribution to American literature for children. The medal was established in 1922 and is presented annually by the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), a division of the American Library Association (ALA). The recipient must be a citizen or resident of the United States.

Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village by Laura Amy Schlitz–Winner!
Honor Books
Elijah of Buxton by Christopher Paul Curtis
The Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmid
Feathers by Jacqueline Woodson
The Higher Power of Lucky by Susan Patron–Winner!
Honor Books
Penny from Heaven by Jennifer Holm
Hattie Big Sky by Kirby Larson
Rules by Cynthia Lord
Criss Cross by Lynne Rae Perkins–Winner!
Honor Books
Whittington by Alan Armstrong
Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler’s Shadow by Susan Campbell Bartoletti
Princess Academy by Shannon Hale
Show Way by Jacqueline Woodson

Click here to see more books to help Celebrate Children’s Week with the little people in your life!

I’m tellin’ a family “secret”…..My mother gets a million and twelve catalogs during the holidays. We don’t know why (and I’m not sure she knows anymore), but she does. Its not really a family secret…the mailman and the recycling people know too! Of these one million and twelve, there is just one that I get really excited about. This one actually comes five times a year, and its by far my favorite one to sit down with a cup of hot chocolate (I don’t know why) and spend several hours leafing through it.

The Bas Bleu, Inc catalog is chock full of obscure reading recommendations. The books are eclectic, don’t appear on bestseller lists and will not be found in supermarkets and airports. Bas Bleu is the self-proclaimed champion of the odd little book.

I always wondered where the name “Bas Bleu” came from. Once I took the time to find out, I thought it was interesting enough to share. Bas Blue is french for blue stockings – who’da thunkit! And more interesting than that, and here’s the whole relevance to this site… it also means “literary woman.” But how do the two go together, you ask (or maybe you didn’t but I’m gonna tell you anyway).

The Bas Bleu website has a longer explanation and explanation of the phrase. I’ve decided to add a few excerpts… because I want to inspire you to visit the site.

“In the 1700s, wearing warm-and-woolly dark blue worsted stockings — rather than the black silk stockings of formal, citified fashion — was the equivalent of wearing jeans today. It was the common denominator of casual dress. But how did the term bluestocking come to mean – a literary woman?”

“The English term “bluestocking” meaning a literary woman evolved in the mid-to-late 1700s. Women of society were beginning to express their boredom with being sent off to do their embroidery, rather than being invited to engage in conversation with the men. “

“In about 1750, Mrs. Elizabeth Montagu (later called “the Queen of the Blues”) and her friends founded the first official bluestocking society in England. They invited learned men to gather informally with them to talk about books, literature, art and architecture, as well as places and events that interested them. The story goes that this literary salon “enjoyed society in undress” — that is, in their more practical country clothing, most notably their blue worsted stockings. Hence, the term “bluestocking.” Perhaps to show off their knowledge of French, the members of the club often referred to themselves as “Bas Bleu.”

How can you not fall in love with a company who’s very name has a cool history! And HELLO… ! They have an online warehouse sale!

I told you guys a couple of weeks ago about my reading “technique.” I am considering changing “how” I read. A couple of days ago, a friend of mine mentioned that he thought I’d probably love the Sony PRS500 Portable Reader System. At first, I shunned the thought of not having the feel of the pages, the smell of the ink, so on and so forth

… and it scared the living daylights out of me that without the ability to make notes in the book, maybe I wouldn’t be able to comprehend what I read…I know, it was a silly thought. I started sweating, and could barely talk from the fear, albeit irrational, of this being a possibility. Okay, not really… but it could it have played out that way.

After doing a little research – I’m all about making this purchase!

When I travel, I can’t EVER figure out what book(s) to take. I’m not one of those people that can just buy a book in an airport because I need something to read. IF I had one of these…I could have a ton of choices to pick from based on my mood.

I also like the idea of being able to “cart around” the books I’m reading, WITHOUT a big bag full of several books I’m reading at the time. It never fails, I go to a place where I’m waiting, I want to be able to read something, but toting a bag full of books is a bit of an inconvenience. This little contraption would put an end to the bulky bag!

There are thousands of books that are free online. I probably could save money on books this way. I figure the price of this thing is close to $300.00 and up. If I buy books at around $10.00 a pop, and I can find 30 books online that I want to read, this cool little money saving device has paid for itself… ESPECIALLY since I will not get just 30 books and read them.

Here’s the downfall I can see – I can’t write in the device. Well, okay. I carry a small notepad – still less bulky than carrying around several books at once. And I already carry a small notebook around.

There is one feature to this that can be either a pro or a con….there is no backlight. On the one hand, because there is no backlight you can read it comfortably in the sunlight. On the other hand, you can’t read it laying in bed without a small clip on light….but a small clip on light is still a WHOLE lot less bothersome to the person sleeping next to me than a lamp. This issue doesn’t seem to be much of an issue to me.

Overall, I think this is a GREAT piece of technology, and one that I will be planning on purchasing over the next few months. I will keep you updated.

If any of you have used a portable reader system, let us know what you think about it. What are the pros and cons in your opinion? What made you decide to buy it? I’m really interested in hearing from others on this.

Okay, here’s an odd topic…

The Bookseller, a British book-trade magazine has been running twenty years of competition to find the oddest book title of the year.

Some of this year’s winners include:

Winner: “Weeds in a Changing World”
Runners-up: “Procrastination and Task Avoidance: Theory, Research and Treatment” and “Guide To Eskimo Rolling”
Previously, titles have included:

-Collect Fungi on Stamps
-Psychotherapy and the Bored Patient
-From Coherent Tunneling to Relaxation
-Parish Ministers’ Hats

These are strange enough titles that one might actually read the book, just to see if the strangeness continued beyond the title page.

Looking for that perfect gift for the reader in your life? If you look up you will see a tab that says “Gift Ideas”. Click it!

On the Gift Ideas page, you will find gifts for children and baseball fans. I will be adding to this over the next few weeks, so bear with me.

Update October 23, 2007: I’ve added Fall, Winter Solstice – both for hostess gifts or whatever, Children’s books, Books for Met’s fans. I’ll keep this updated as I go on.

Hello Everyone,

First, Happy Thanksgiving! I trust everyone celebrated the holiday in their own way, giving thanks (or givings) for the good things in your life!

Second, as a way to help everyone with their holiday shopping, I found a few savings on Amazon I want to share with you. Besides the links on the next page, I did a quick check and Amazon is offering up to 45% off on bestsellers.

Click the “read the rest” link to take you to several banners with great deals!

Books

DVDs

Electronics

On Black Friday Amazon.com won’t have a cold, dark parking lot to line up in, but they will have a bunch of great deals to help you get holiday shopping done for less.

This year they’ve created a Black Friday page for holiday shoppers at AMAZON BLACK FRIDAY. Amazon.com will be offering hourly deals from 6am to 6pm PST along with thousands of products on sale for a limited time. Also, customers will get gift wrapping for $.99 per item.

This year don’t fight the crowds when they can shop online at Amazon.com from the comfort of their own homes.

Also, I just installed a widget on the sidebar that has hourly updates on the best deals on the site. You will see it on the far right sidebar. On the day after thanksgiving, you’ll see the hourly updates on the tab that says Lightening Deals. Edit: this can now be found on the amazon savings article