Calling all Rick Riordan Fans. Join the "largest demigod gathering in history!"

Rick Riordan has written yet another splendid series called the Heroes of Olympus and you can join the celebration on October 12th by watching a live broadcast. Take a look at the Heroes of Olympus website to find out more about this event, to learn about the new series, to watch videos, to play games, and much more. 

Celebrate the 50th anniversary of Dr. Seuss’s Green Eggs and Ham with the “Ham it up” video contest

Seuss fans can enter to win a cash prize, a year supply of Ham I Am! products, Seuss memorabilia, books and more!

CELEBRATE THE 50^TH ANNIVERSARY OF DR. SEUSS’S GREEN EGGS AND HAM

 WITH THE “HAM IT UP” VIDEO CONTEST

To celebrate the 50^th anniversary of Dr. Seuss’s classic Green Eggs and Ham Random House Children’s Books and Dr. Seuss Enterprises, L.P. have launched the “HAM It Up” video contest, calling for fans across the United States to channel their own Sam-I-Am and submit a video capturing their interpretation of a scene from the book. The grand prize winner will receive a $2,000 cash prize, a year’s supply of Ham I Am! products, a beautifully framed 50^th Anniversary Green Eggs and Ham print, a flip camera and a Dr. Seuss library of books. Originally published in 1960, Green Eggs and Ham has sold over 13 million copies in North America.

The “HAM It Up” video contest kicks-off on September 21 and will end on November 3, 2010.  Details on how to enter and official contest rules are available on Seussville at http://GreenEggsContest.seussville.com.  Entrants can submit their video by upload, in-browser recording, or via a YouTube url. The contest platform will display videos within a player so that they are shareable and embeddable. Entrants are encouraged to promote their video to friends and family to boost their ratings. The general public will decide which participants best tapped into their inner Sam-I-Am during a public voting period. The videos with the most votes will be judged by the Random House Children's Books team and Dr. Seuss Enterprises to determine the best overall acts. Prizes will be awarded to one grand prize winner and ten runners up based on the following criteria: creativity and originality, representation of the contest theme and public votes. The ten runners up will receive a $100 grocery gift card from the National Pork Board, framed Dr. Seuss art, and a Dr. Seuss library of books (please see contest website for official prizing details). http://greeneggscontest.seussville.com/greeneggsham/

Dr. Seuss fans can also add to their bookshelves with two new releases! In honor of the 50^th anniversary of Dr. Seuss’s Green Eggs and Ham Random House Children’s Books released a limited edition of the title on August 24, 2010. This PARTY EDITION includes a foiled-cover and features the complete original text and art at the regular edition price of $8.99. Random House will also release a board book, DO YOU LIKE GREEN EGGS AND HAM? on October 26, 2010 (Ages 0-3 / $9.99). This latest addition to the Dr. Seuss Nursery Collection title is filled with interactive fun for baby, and includes a plastic green egg that children can squeak, spin, and see themselves in with the mini-mirror on the back.  

Banned Books Week - A review of Olive's Ocean, a challenged book

For my last post for Banned Books Week I have a review to share with you. I read Olive's Ocean a few years ago and yet I still remember it very clearly. Growing up is often a confusing time for young people, and in this book Kevin Henkes tells a story that addresses some of issues that teens deal with.

Olive’s Ocean

Kevin Henkes
Fiction
For ages 9 to 12
HarperCollins, 2003, 978-0060535438
Martha never really knew Olive Barstow and she is shocked when Olive’s mother arrives at the house to give Martha a journal entry that Olive wrote before she was killed by a car. In it Olive mentions that she hopes to make friends with Martha and she thinks Martha is the “nicest person” in their class. Martha can’t help feeling sad that she never the chance or took the time to get to know shy Olive.

   Even after she and her family go to her grandmother’s house at the beach Martha cannot rid herself of Olive’s memory. Nor can she really share how she feels with anyone in her family. Though she does share other confidences with her grandmother, Godbee, whom Martha loves and admires a great deal. She tells Godbee for example that she rather likes Jimmy Manning, a boy whom until then was more of an annoyance than anything else. Now Jimmy seems to be interested her and she is sure that she has fallen in love with him.

   She also tells Godbee that she wants to become a writer. Godbee is very supportive of the idea and tells Martha about a short story she wrote when she was young. The story gives Martha an idea – it gives her way to give poor Olive’s mother a gift.

   In then end Martha discovers that Jimmy is not whom she thought he was, and the gift for Olive’s mother is never really delivered, but Martha comes through a difficult time and she makes peace with both Olive and with herself.

   In this beautifully paced novel, Kevin Henkes explores several months in a girl’s life as she struggles with the process of growing up, and as she tries to comes to terms with the death of a schoolmate. Growing up is a rarely an easy process and this 2004 Newbery Honor title perfectly captures the confusion that many young people feel at this moment in their lives.

Banned Books Week - A review of Bridge to Terabithia, a challenged book

The first time I read Bridge to Terabithia, I was hooked after reading just a couple of pages. I am not ashamed to admit that I cried when Leslie dies, and I grieved with Jess as he tries to come to terms with losing his friend. I found the story to be powerful, and I imagined that it would help people of all ages come to terms with their own grief after losing someone they loved. I think it would be a terrible shame if readers could not borrow this title from their school or local library because it was challenged and banned.

Bridge to Terabithia

Katherine Paterson

Fiction

Ages 8 to 12

HarperCollins, 2007, 0-06-122728-5

   Jess is determined that this year, his fifth grade year, he is going to be the fastest runner in his school. He has been practicing his running every morning all summer and he is sure that now he is ready, really ready. Alas for Jess, for on the first day of a school a new kid in his class wins the daily race. Worse still this new kid is his new neighbor and she is a girl who is called Leslie. Jess is both furious and mortified, and he wants nothing to do with Leslie and her strange ways.

   Over time however Jess comes to accept Leslie’s friendship and then to embrace it. She is such a fascinating and wonderful person, full of ideas and stories and always willing to share her wonderful imagination with him, Jesse Aarons. The two children build an imaginary world in the woods near their houses which they name Terabithia. Leslie is the queen of this world, and Jess is the king and they have to swing over a creek on a rope to get to it. For Jess, Terabithia and Leslie are the best parts of his life and he cannot imagine his world without them.

   Then, suddenly, Leslie is taken from him when the creek rope snaps and Leslie is killed in the fall. In the emptiness that follows her death, Jess cannot help feeling as if both he and Terabithia are going to wither without Leslie’s presence.

   With great sensitivity and understanding Katherine Patterson explores a lonely boy’s first true friendship and his overwhelming feelings of grief when his friend tragically dies. Patterson is neither maudlin nor overly sentimental. Instead she looks at the ways in which a friendship can form. She also shows her young readers that grief is not some easy to package emotion that can be set aside once the prescribed time is up. Instead grieving is a complicated, messy and confusing process that has no rules or guidelines. One just has to muddle through as best one can.

   Perhaps the best past of this book is that Patterson has made Jess realistically imperfect and easy to identify with as he struggles through life.

  This book won the 1978 Newbery Medal.

   

Banned Books Week - The top ten most frequently challenged books of 2009

Here are the top ten most frequently challenged books of 2009:

1. ttyl, ttfn, l8r, g8r (series), by Lauren Myracle 
Reasons: Nudity, Sexually Explicit, Offensive Language, Unsuited to Age Group, Drugs

2. “And Tango Makes Three” by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson
Reasons: Homosexuality

3. “The Perks of Being A Wallflower,” by Stephen Chbosky
Reasons: Homosexuality, Sexually Explicit, Anti-Family, Offensive Language, Religious Viewpoint, Unsuited to Age Group, Drugs, Suicide

4. “To Kill A Mockingbird,” by Harper Lee 
Reasons: Racism, Offensive Language, Unsuited to Age Group

5. Twilight (series) by Stephenie Meyer
Reasons: Sexually Explicit, Religious Viewpoint, Unsuited to Age Group

6. “Catcher in the Rye,” by J.D. Salinger
Reasons: Sexually Explicit, Offensive Language, Unsuited to Age Group

7. “My Sister’s Keeper,” by Jodi Picoult
Reasons: Sexism, Homosexuality, Sexually Explicit, Offensive Language, Religious Viewpoint, Unsuited to Age Group, Drugs, Suicide, Violence

8. “The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big, Round Things,” by Carolyn Mackler
Reasons: Sexually Explicit, Offensive Language, Unsuited to Age Group

9. “The Color Purple,” Alice Walker 
Reasons: Sexually Explicit, Offensive Language, Unsuited to Age Group

10. “The Chocolate War,” by Robert Cormier
Reasons: Nudity, Sexually Explicit, Offensive Language, Unsuited to Age Group






You can see a listing of the books challenged or banned in 2009-2010 here on the ALA website.

Banned Books Week - Read the Graphic Novel Americus online

In honor of Banned Books Week I want to tell you about a great graphic novel that you can read online. The story explores the idea of banning books in a clever and meaningful way.


Americus is about Neil Barton, a teenager growing up in Oklahoma, and his fight to keep his favorite fantasy series, The Chronicles of Apathea Ravenchilde, in his public library. It’s written by MK Reed and drawn by Jonathan Hill, and will be published by First Second in the fall of 2011.

The first chapter of Americus was published in Papercutter #7 in 2008, and was nominated for the Outstanding Short Story Ignatz. You can read the story online on the saveapathea.com website. 


Here is a message from the folks at First Second, the publishers of this great story:

Banned Book Week is a week where people talk about why banning books is not good as much as possible so that everyone realizes that they shouldn’t do it!

Want to celebrate?  Here are five things you can do. 

 1)       Talk about it!  Communication makes the world go ‘round; and when teachers, librarians, and parents know there are people in their communities who are willing to stand up for the freedom to read, that makes them all the more likely to go to bat for what they believe in.

 2)       Go to a party, a reading, or a discussion!  I’m envious of everyone in Chicago who has the opportunity to go to the Official ALA Banned Books Kick-Off because it sounds amazing; there’s a complete list of everything that’s happening around the US here. 

 3)       Say it with style.  I don’t know anyone who doesn’t receive compliments on their Banned Books Bracelet, probably because they are adorable.  Who doesn’t enjoy protesting/awareness-raising and looking good doing it?

 4)       Write a letter.  Check out Amnesty International’s efforts to help people around the world being persecuted for things they “produce, circulate, or read.”  They’ve got six case studies up on their website now; your postcard or letter could really help one of these people. 

 5)       READ.  Seriously, folks.  It’s the very best way to celebrate Banned Book Week.  Here’s the list of the most commonly banned or challenged books in the US: it’s a great place to start.  And who doesn’t love an excuse to reread Flowers for Algernon, James and the Giant Peach, and As I Lay Dying?

 This is a cause that we all at First Second really believe in; thanks for taking the time to listen to us talk about it!

Banned Books Week - What you can do!

If you want to mark Banned Books Week in your school or community and need some event ideas, here are a few from the Banned Books Week website. 

● ‘Make your own banned book’ activity: Local libraries, schools and bookstores could provide both the crafts and space for a day/weekend in order for local community members, including children and youth to create their own ‘banned books’; libraries, schools and booksellers could offer prizes for participation.

●  Ask customers and community members to sign a support poster provided by ABFFE; display the poster throughout the year to encourage dialogue and interest in banned books and wider free speech issues.


●  Capture individuals exercising their right to read banned books on film: Create a Polaroid picture wall of students, patrons and customers who read banned books at your local school, library or bookstore; ask patrons to write their thoughts and feelings about banned books on the white part of the Polaroid.

●  Display list of banned books at register; start with the Kids' Right to Read Project Report and build from there as interest grows.

●  Organize a discussion forum on book banning—particularly if there are any local cases of book bans or challenges; focus on local youth using a Harry Potter or Twilight-themed discussion for instance starting with questions like why do you think this book was banned? Why do people ban books? Why do you like this book?

●  Hold a Banned Books Week Essay Contest; send the winning essay to info[at]abffe.com for potential publication on bannedbooksweek.org

● I nclude a Banned Books Week feature in your organization's newsletter or on your blog; advertising on a Banned Books Week theme

●  Organize contests to win 'freadom' buttons or bracelets; Check out 'banned book trivia' here.

●  Write to your local paper; draft op-eds and letters to the editor.

●  Screen related movies including ‘Jailed for Their Words’ and others.

●  Invite authors of banned books for signings and Q&A at your local library or bookstore.

●  Draw a picture of the one book you would save if books were being burned; display the pictures on a wall in the children’s section throughout the year

●  Collaborate with local booksellers and librarians for larger events

●  Keep a Banned Books Week journal; write your comments and thoughts on Banned Books Week activities

Fight Censorship in Your Community        
Report a book challenge:
* Contact The American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression (ABFFE).
* Contact The American Library Association (ALA).
* Use the Book Censorship Toolkit, which includes tips for responding to challenges from the National Coalition Against Censorship.
 
Read About Book Banning
Read about recent book challenges:
* The Kids' Right to Read Project (KRRP), a collaboration of ABFFE and the NCAC, responds to book challenges and bans in schools and libraries.
                    * KRRP has confronted challenges to over 250 titles in 28 states.
* The American Library Association provides lists of the most frequently challenged books.
* ABFFE's Banned Books Week Handbook contains lists of frequently challenged titles.


Other articles of interest:
*Celebrate BBW with Ellen Hopkins and Simon & Schuster
                    Click here to download a Simon & Schuster poster featuring Ellen Hopkins' "Manifesto"
                    Click here to read KRRP's interview with Ellen Hopkins
* Check out GOOD Magazine's interactive display of 2009's most targeted books, complete with color-coded arrows indicating the reasons cited for book's censorship. 

Visit Web sites of pro-censorship groups
    *SafeLibraries.org
    * PABBIS: Parents Against Bad Books in Schools
    * ClassKS: Citizens for Literary Standards in Schools
    * Citizens for Academic Responsibility


Additional Resources
    * The American Library Association Office for Intellectual Freedom, Banned Books Week Resources.
    * The American Library Association Office for Intellectual Freedom, Library Bill of Rights.
    * The National Coalition Against Censorship, "The First Amendment in Schools: Resource Guide"
    * The National Council of Teachers of English, "The Student's Right to Read."
    * PEN American Center, Freedom to Write.

 Wear a Free Speech Bracelet, Button, or T-Shirt
 * Purchase Freadom products from ABFFE
 * Purchase Banned Books Week products from the American Library Association.
           Donate
* ABFFE has designed an attractive donation box for Banned Books Week that will make this easy. The compact boxes, which are 6" long by 4" wide by 3" deep, use very little counter space and provide    another way for booksellers to demonstrate their commitment to free speech. To order the free donation boxes from ABFFE, emailinfo@abffe.com.

Banned Books Week Begins Today

Banned Books Week 2010 - September 25th- October 2nd 2010

Banned Books Week (BBW) is an annual event celebrating the freedom to read and the importance of the First Amendment.  Held during the last week of September, Banned Books Week highlights the benefits of free and open access to information while drawing attention to the harms of censorship by spotlighting actual or attempted bannings of books across the United States.

Intellectual freedom—the freedom to access information and express ideas, even if the information and ideas might be considered unorthodox or unpopular—provides the foundation for Banned Books Week.  BBW stresses the importance of ensuring the availability of unorthodox or unpopular viewpoints for all who wish to read and access them.

The books featured during Banned Books Week have been targets of attempted bannings.  Fortunately, while some books were banned or restricted, in a majority of cases the books were not banned, all thanks to the efforts of librarians, teachers, booksellers, and members of the community to retain the books in the library collections.  Imagine how many more books might be challenged—and possibly banned or restricted—if librarians, teachers, and booksellers across the country did not use Banned Books Week each year to teach the importance of our First Amendment rights and the power of literature, and to draw attention to the danger that exists when restraints are imposed on the availability of information in a free society.

Banned Books Week is sponsored by the American Booksellers Association;American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression; the American Library Association; American Society of Journalists and Authors; Association of American Publishers; and the National Association of College Stores.  It is endorsed by the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress. 

For more information on getting involved with Banned Books Week: Celebrating the Freedom to Read, please see Calendar of Events and Ideas and Resources. You can also visit the Banned Books Week website.

A blog book tour event with Art Slade, the author of The Hunchback Assignments Series with a Giveaway!

Not long ago I heard about a young adult series called the Hunchback Assignments. There are now two books in the series: The Hunchback Assignments and The Dark Deeps: The Hunchback Assignments 2. The stories are set in a steam punk world, and the star of the series is Mondo, a hunchback  who "is gentle, intelligent, trained for battle, yet a bookworm; ugly and beautiful, tough and idealistic." Curious to find out what steampunk is, I asked author Art Slade for a definition. This is what he had say:

Behold! I am about to do the impossible! I will define steampunk (as far as literature is concerned, that is). It will not be the Oxfordian definition. Nor will it be the Urban Dictionary definition. My definition is this: steampunk is science fiction that is inspired by the Victorian age. Oh, wait, does that cover it? Hmmm. Maybe I should add something about clockwork and steam. Okay, here it is: steampunk literature is steamy science fiction that is inspired by the Victorian age and often contains clockwork and cockneyisms. Ah, that still doesn’t cover it. Zounds and snap to! It may be beyond definition.

Here in no particular order are my favorite Victorian-era novels that influenced steampunk:

1)   20,0000 Leagues Under The Sea by Jules Verne The book that is the touchstone of steampunk (with a nod to the Disney Movie’s design of the Nautilus)

2)   Oliver Twist: The Attack of the Clockwork Demons by Charles Dickens. Did I mention that this list includes books I wish had been written? Why didn’t Dickens do just one steampunk book? It could have gone like this: Oliver tentatively approached the Clockwork Magistrate and asked, “More, Please.”

3)   The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson This novel is the one I blame for 1/3rd of all the mad doctors in steampunk. 

4)   The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells I blame this novel for another 1/3rd of the mad doctors in steampunk. The general rule in steampunk is: “Don’t drink that potion!”

5)   Sherlock Holmes: The Mechanical Hounds of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle Really, Sherlock should have been investigating steampunk crimes. And if Watson had mechanical wings Sherlock would never have fallen from Reichenbach Falls.

6)   Frankenstein by Mary Shelley The blame for the final 1/3rd of the mad “steampunk” doctors is directly laid at Mary Shelley’s dainty feet. Yet another mad doctor who somehow animates the dead.

7)   Dracula by Bram Stoker Though more supernatural than scientific, the mood of this novel has influenced our modern-day moody steampunk novels.

8)   Pride and Prejudice and Razor Billed Peacocks by Jane Austen. If this was the title, boys would finally read these books.

9)   Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne Good ol’ JV needs his due as the grandfather of Steampunk. Could add Journey to the Center of the Earth and From the Earth to the Moon too.

10)  Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland Forget the talking animals. Actually forget Alice, too. It’s really Jabberwocky that is the first steam powered monster: “And, as in uffish thought he stood,/The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,/Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,/And burbled as it came!” Burbling? Flame? Whiffling? That’s so steampunk!


The Hunchback Assignments  is definitely a series that will suit young adults. Another series that would suit this age range are the Cecilia and Kate series. Younger readers in the 9 to 12 age range might like to have their own literary steampunk experience. The Larklight Trilogy by Philip Reeve is a delightful series that I found quite enthralling, and highly amusing as well. Also, here is a Barnes and Nobles list of steampunk titles. 


The publisher has very kindly given us several copies of the two books in this series to GIVE AWAY! Please send me an email if you would like a set of the books.


Please visit the other stops on this blog book tour. 

Friday, September 17 - ArtSlade.com http://arthurslade.livejournal.com/

Saturday September 18 - Cynsations http://cynthialeitichsmith.blogspot.com/

Sunday, September 19 - Free the Princess http://freetheprincess.blogspot.com/

Monday, September 20 – Steamed! http://www.ageofsteam.wordpress.com

Tuesday, September 21^st - Steampunk Tribune http://www.steampunktribune.com/

Wednesday, September 22 - Suvudu http://suvudu.com/

Thursday, September 23 - Steampunk Scholar http://steampunkscholar.blogspot.com/

The David Godine Blog Event Day Five - A review for poetry lovers

As it is Friday, and I like to post reviews of poetry on Friday, I asked the folks at Godine if they had a book of poems that I could review for this blog event. They do, and here is my review of Absolutely Wild.

Absolutely Wild

Dennis Webster

Illustrated by Kim Webster Cunningham

Poetry

For ages 4 to 8

David Godine, 2009, 978-1-56792-375-9

    People of all ages all over the world like to learn about animals. They read books about animals and watch films about animals. They go on safaris in Africa and cross mountains, lakes, river, and oceans to catch a glimpse of some rare and exotic creature. In this collection of poems, Dennis Webster takes readers on a delightful poetical journey around the world. Readers don’t even have to leave the comfort of their favorite seat to visit some of the world’s most interesting animals.

   There is the yak who has a “hairy top and hairy bottom.” It is true this shaggy animal is not exactly beautiful, but if you were in Tibet you would “dress as he does.” The ptarmigan on the other hand is a very handsome bird. In the summer months she is dressed in feathers of brown, while in the winter those same features are a soft white.

   The puffin is a little sea-bird who has “quite mild” manners and who tries to “live a modest life / Like any normal fellow.” Unfortunately, this is very hard to do because the bird is blessed with an over-sized beak that is bright “red, blue and yellow.”

   If you not interested in the exotic, you can spend some time with an ant who “goes to lots of picnics / But never has much fun” because she is working so hard. Or there is the snail who “slips and slides along the ground” so very slowly. This singular lack of speed is not surprising really when on considers that the poor snail has to carry his house with him wherever he goes.

   This collection of poems will tickle the funny bone and charm readers who enjoy poetry. For every poem, Kim Webster Cunningham has created a beautiful full color print that is expressive and a joy to look at.

Thank you Daniel Pritchard and David Godine for helping me to put this blog event together. It has been a pleasure!