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Way Cool Book Alert | Moms Miami //MomsMiami.com Member: suecorbett Way Cool Book Alert
There are all kinds of readers in the world and my middle child is a re-reader. Once he falls in love with a book, he commits. This is the child who got hooked on reading via graphic novels and I wonder if the time it takes to translate a story that’s told mostly in pictures, and the depth of the world created by the addition of visuals, have shaped his reading tastes. He doesn’t seek variety. He could be happy on a...read more...A Love Song with Pictures | Moms Miami //MomsMiami.com Member: suecorbett A Love Song with Pictures
I don’t normally like picture books produced by illustrating songs. The lyrics don’t often work as a read aloud, or they suggest you should be singing rather than reading them, a challenge not every parental voice is up to. But For Baby (For Bobbie) , (Dawn Publications, $19.95) a picture book version of the first song the late John Denver ever recorded, overcomes my objections. The sunny illustrations by South...read more...New books for the Jewish holidays | Moms Miami //MomsMiami.com Member: suecorbett New books for the Jewish holidays
You could close your eyes in a bookstore and find a good Christmas book. But it is very rare to find a worthy book about, say, Rosh Hashanah. So I was very pleased to read this new retelling of the old Isaac Peretz story: Even Higher! adapted by Eric Kimmel and illustrated by Jill Weber. (Holiday House, $16.95, ages 3 to 8). Though this tale about where the rabbi of a Ukranian village really goes in preparation for the Jewish...read more...Catching Up with Author Suzanne Collins | Moms Miami //MomsMiami.com Member: suecorbett Catching Up with Author Suzanne Collins
Very interesting interview with Suzanne Collins, author of CATCHING FIRE (the second book in the Hunger Games trilogy), which is now in bookstores. Great job of asking questions by some kid readers! http://www.bordersmedia.com/bookclub/collins?cmpid=SL_20090901_REW read more...Accelerated Reader | Moms Miami //MomsMiami.com Member: suecorbett Accelerated Reader
Very interesting essay in the New York Times Book Review yesterday by the novelist Susan Straight, who tried to parse how Renaissance Learning affixes point values to the books in its Accelerated Reader program: A Reading System That Rewards... What? The discrepancies she notes -- a Harry Potter book worth 44 points while much more complex novels worth half as many -- are only part of my problem with AR (I am very much NOT...read more...A Bookless future? | Moms Miami //MomsMiami.com Member: suecorbett A Bookless future?
So is anybody else having the same problem convincing their children that reading through a Wikipedia entry is not actually doing research? My kids do everything but roll their eyes when I try to explain the difference between what's online and what constitutes a fact-checked source. Then I read this really scary article from the Worcester Telegram about a private school in their area that is converting their library into a...read more...Where the Wild Things Are Exploited | Moms Miami //MomsMiami.com Member: suecorbett Where the Wild Things Are Exploited
If you follow these things, you may already know that after many false fits and starts, there is film version of Maurice Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are on its way to theaters shortly. (Release date is Oct. 16) Yes, yes, I know. It's practically sacrilege to take one of the most beautifully distilled picture books of the past century and use a bellows to transform it into a feature length film. I'm not hopeful....read more...It's a Mad, Mad, Mad World (After All) | Moms Miami //MomsMiami.com Member: suecorbett It's a Mad, Mad, Mad World (After All)
I try not to recommend books that aren’t actually available to read yet but today I cannot resist because I have to share this “book trailer” designed to promote Libba Bray’s forthcoming novel, Going Bovine. (It goes on sale Sept. 22) Bray is the author of the Gemma Doyle trilogy, thick, Gothic, Victorian-era fantasies with an other-worldly aspect. I adore them. I love Gemma, who has big problems but plenty...read more...Bigger discounts for teachers! | Moms Miami //MomsMiami.com Member: suecorbett Bigger discounts for teachers!
Here's some good back-to-school news for those in charge of stocking classroom libraries -- bigger discounts at both Borders and Barnes & Noble for those with an educator i.d. Check it out: http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6677221.html?nid=2286&rid=##CustomerId##&source=title read more...The Cure for Kindergarten Anxiety | Moms Miami //MomsMiami.com Member: suecorbett The Cure for Kindergarten Anxiety
Do you have a little one who is experiencing nervousness about going off to kindergarten? Or would you just like a book the two of you can coo over? Panda Kindergarten by Joanne Ryder is the perfect choice. It is beautifully designed and full of interesting facts about an actual “kindergarten class” of 16 baby pandas, cared for from birth at the Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda inside the Wolong...read more...Book v. Kindle | Moms Miami //MomsMiami.com Member: suecorbett Book v. Kindle
So my Big Reader niece, Mara, who usually gets a box o' books from me every summer for her August birthday, has crossed the Rubicon and announced that she really loves her mother's Kindle. Arrrrgh! What to do? One of the best gifts I've ever engineered for anybody was the box of autographed books Meg Cabot graciously sent to Mara, self-proclaimed biggest Cabot fan ever. How does one get an autograph on a Kindle? Look...read more...Out of this World Reading | Moms Miami //MomsMiami.com Member: suecorbett Out of this World Reading
Because of the 40th anniversary of the moon landing, there are a ton of new books for young readers on the subject of space exploration. The best of these is Moonshot by Brian Floca, which captures both the excitement and the scope of the Apollo 11 crew’s achievement. Floca is a skilled illustrator of non-fiction material – you can see his attention to detail in the precise watercolor (that’s almost an oxymoron,...read more...Teens and Tweens: What Are You Reading? | Moms Miami //MomsMiami.com Member: suecorbett Teens and Tweens: What Are You Reading?
An editor I work for asked me to mine my sources for information on what teens and tweens are actually reading this summer. So, spill. Send me a few sentences about the books you’ve read since the school year ended (include your age and school name.) I’m especially interested in the books you loved, but if there was something you had to read for school and you feel the need to vent about it, that’s good, too. If...read more...Books You Read More Than Once | Moms Miami //MomsMiami.com Member: suecorbett Books You Read More Than Once
Here is something I almost never do: Re-read a book. There are books I would love to read twice but that luxury is an occupational casualty for the book reviewer who has an obligation to move on. In the past decade, I’ve probably re-read fewer than two dozen books and each time it was only because I was reading it aloud to someone else. I say this in order to convince you that there is something truly extraordinary about...read more...Summer Reading | Moms Miami //MomsMiami.com Member: suecorbett Summer Reading
During the summer, my rising-fourth-grader's book club meets every other week. That way we catch everybody, eventually, since it's so hard to settle on a date during vacation when everybody's schedules are upended. Two weeks ago, we met (at an Italian Ice stand) to discuss Roddy Doyle's The Giggler Treatment . Perfect attendance (!) and a spirited discussion about whether the book was funny (the fourth graders) or...read more...Science Over the Summer | Moms Miami //MomsMiami.com Member: suecorbett Science Over the Summer
From the American Association for the Advancement of Science comes this list of books aimed at keeping your young scientist's synapses firing while school's out. The books cover a range of topics including archaeology, bioluminescent creatures, ahistory of women in the American space program, a bird watching guide and a book containing tips on how to be "green." The target audience is between the ages of 10 and 14,...read more...Buffy v. Edward | Moms Miami //MomsMiami.com Member: suecorbett Buffy v. Edward
If this was Twitter this would be a re-tweet: a hilarious re-mix of scenes from the Twilight movie spliced with scenes from Buffy, the Vampire Slayer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZwM3GvaTRM What are all the Twilight fans reading this summer, I wonder? read more...Sarah Dessen Rocks the House | Moms Miami //MomsMiami.com Member: suecorbett Sarah Dessen Rocks the House
Get ready to rock: Books & Books is hosting another Teen Band Jam Night, Friday, June 26, at its Coral Gables location. This time the host is none other than . . . Sarah Dessen, author of a slew of teen-pleasing novels. Her latest, Along for the Ride , just released this week, is perfect summer reading material – an absorbing, funny, poignant story about two teens coming to terms with the hand life has dealt them. The...read more...Hungry for an Exciting Read? | Moms Miami //MomsMiami.com Member: suecorbett Hungry for an Exciting Read?
Anybody who read last year’s The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins will understand the excitement in my household when a package arrived a few weeks ago with a sticker on the front depicting a mockingjay inside a gold circle. All I had to do was flash it at my oldest. His reaction: “Gimmegimmegimmegimmegimme.” He reappeared a few hours later looking for something to eat -- and wondering when book three was...read more...Bookish Cakes | Moms Miami //MomsMiami.com Member: suecorbett Bookish Cakes
The cakewrecks blog regularly posts very funny photos of baked goods gone bad but this posting celebrated children's literature. Check it out. I love Peter Rabbit and the Hungry Caterpillar seems actually doable. http://cakewrecks.blogspot.com/2009/05/sunday-sweets-reading-rocks.html A shout-out to Kate Slater from UC-San Diego for pointing me to this. read more...Ideas for the Mother-Daughter Book Club | Moms Miami //MomsMiami.com Member: suecorbett Ideas for the Mother-Daughter Book Club
A friend occasionally asks me for suggestions for her teenager’s Mother-Daughter Book Club. Here’s the list I recently came up with for them. If anybody had a book club winner – a title that both moms and daughters enjoyed – will you share? These are all 2008 or 2009 books, meaning they are very fresh, but only available in hardcover. Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson. Oh, god, this story is...read more...Storytime for Soccer Nuts | Moms Miami //MomsMiami.com Member: suecorbett Storytime for Soccer Nuts
Sergio, the penguin creation of Hialeah-Miami Lakes High alumni Edel Rodriguez, LOVES soccer. (By way of explaining this, Rodriguez told me last year that though Sergio lives at the South Pole, he considers himself Argentinean.) In Sergio Saves the Game , the follow-up to last year’s droll tale about the diminutive penguin’s fear of swimming, Sergio overcomes his lack of athleticism to play a pivotal role on...read more...Decorating the Nursery? | Moms Miami //MomsMiami.com Member: suecorbett Decorating the Nursery?
I love Eric Carle's collages so I must tell you about this collection from Chronicle Books of poster-sized prints. There are some familiar figures here -- the hungry caterpillar in his upside-U phase, a mixed-up chameleon and the marsupial mother and child from Does a Kangaroo Have a Mother, Too? But there are some less well-known but just as vivid selections, too, including a horizontal poster of colorful numbers and a...read more...Hey Kids! How'd You Like to Introduce Rick Riordan? | Moms Miami //MomsMiami.com Member: suecorbett Hey Kids! How'd You Like to Introduce Rick Riordan?
T-minus 4 days and counting until Rick Riordan, author of The Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, appears in South Florida to talk about The Last Olympian , the final volume in the series. Check the momsmiami.com site tomorrow for an interview with Riordan that reveals WHAT HE'S UP TO NEXT! That's all I'm going to say. Okay, I'll also say it's good news for Percy Jackson fans. Before then, however,...read more...Beyond Goodnight Moon | Moms Miami //MomsMiami.com Member: suecorbett Beyond Goodnight Moon
In my never-ending quest to find books you can give at a baby shower that are NOT Goodnight Moon , I can now add Before You Were Here, Mi Amor by Samantha R. Vamos, illustrated by Santiago Cohen (Viking, $15.99, ages 2-6) This lovely, colorful book would also be perfect for a new mother, just in case you want to print out a copy of this blog post and leave it lying around whre somebody who hasn’t yet finished shopping...read more...Poetry for the Rest of the Year | Moms Miami //MomsMiami.com Member: suecorbett Poetry for the Rest of the Year
My sixth-grader came home from school the other day bitterly complaining of – stab me in the heart – poetry. “I can’t wait until April’s over,” he said. April is National Poetry month. I love poetry. I subscribe to all those e-letters that offer to send you a poem a day. Liam’s outburst disturbed me deeply (stop snickering), so I probed. The culprit was Edgar Allen Poe’s...read more...For Baseball Fans and Others | Moms Miami //MomsMiami.com Member: suecorbett For Baseball Fans and Others
Baseball season is upon us but I guess everybody in South Florida knows that, what with Los Marlins holding the BEST RECORD in the major leagues. (Grrr, says the fan of the 6-6 New York Mets.) My team was off yesterday (good news: they didn’t lose!) so I fed my baseball addiction by re-reading this incredibly good new picture book biography by Jonah Winter: You’ve Never Heard of Sandy Koufax?! The artwork,...read more...Fancy-dress Event for the Tea Party Set | Moms Miami //MomsMiami.com Member: suecorbett Fancy-dress Event for the Tea Party Set
My nine-year-old’s princess phrase ended, without fanfare, sometime in the past year or two but before it did she was most definitely the target audience for the Fancy Nancy books, written by Jane O’Connor, deliciously illustrated by Robin Preiss Glasser. Fancy Nancy herself shows absolutely no sign of abating. The slightly pudgy doyenne of all things debonair is no longer a book character but a franchise. A...read more...Joyce Sweeney on Angels | Moms Miami //MomsMiami.com Member: suecorbett Joyce Sweeney on Angels
Joyce Sweeney’s novels for teens are predictable in the very finest way – they never disappoint. There’s always an interesting, exciting, sometimes funny story, crafted in such a way that before you know it, you’re at The End. She’s a whiz at hooking the reader on her line, and reeling them in. Her latest, The Guardian , ( Henry Holt, $16.95) teeters on the edge of...read more...Rashômon for Kindergartners | Moms Miami //MomsMiami.com Member: suecorbett Rashômon for Kindergartners
One of my favorite things to do when I speak to very young readers is to introduce a fifty-cent vocabulary word and have the whole class memorize it. I encourage them to repeat it to their parents who will hopefully ask where they learned a word like, say, “schadenfreude,” so the kids can say it was during a discussion of Captain Underpants . So when I read Duck! Rabbit! by Amy Krouse...read more...Wimpy News! | Moms Miami //MomsMiami.com Member: suecorbett Wimpy News!
Big news for fans of Greg Heffley. Book Four in the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series now has a publication date – Oct. 12, 2009 . No title yet but author Jeff Kinney says, “ I’ll be taking Greg out of the school setting for the first time and into the summer, which opens up lots of exciting possibilities.” I’m guessing Greg is not a star on the swim team. Meanwhile, a movie based on...read more...Family Movie Night with Tweens | Moms Miami //MomsMiami.com Member: suecorbett Family Movie Night with Tweens
I rarely stay up to watch the Oscars but this year, amazingly, was still cognizant when they handed out the statuette for best documentary to Man on Wire , a film about Phillipe Petit’s 1974 tightrope walk between the still under-construction twin towers of Manhattan’s World Trade Center. I was a girl in New York in 1974, but my familiarity with this mind-boggling event comes from Mordicai...read more...The Hungry Caterpillar Hits Middle Age | Moms Miami //MomsMiami.com Member: suecorbett The Hungry Caterpillar Hits Middle Age
The lifespan of a caterpillar is between two weeks and a month, which is even shorter than the shelflife of a children’s picture book, most of which are on their way to being out of print a year after they are published. So "impressive" barely begins to describe Eric Carle’s chubby green caterpillar, which turns 40 this year – an incredible feat for a caterpillar, yes,...read more...The Composer Lives and Lemony Snicket Resurfaces | Moms Miami //MomsMiami.com Member: suecorbett The Composer Lives and Lemony Snicket Resurfaces
Last Saturday I took the kids to New York's Carnegie Hall to hear The Orchestra of St. Luke’s perform The Composer is Dead , a picture book-cum-police procedural that uses a murder investigation to introduce classical music to children. The work was composed by Nathaniel Stookey, who is very much alive, and narrated by . . . Lemony Snicket. This is not your father’s Peter and the Wolf . It was achingly...read more...A Yankee at the Seder | Moms Miami //MomsMiami.com Member: suecorbett A Yankee at the Seder
Here is a fascinating picture book based on a true story from the U.S. Civil War, a book that produced in me one of those “who knew?” reactions. Approximately 10,000 of the soldiers who fought in America ’s Civil War were Jewish. The great majority of them – an estimated 6,000 to 9,000 fought for the union -- but about 2,000 Jews fought for the south. Elka Weber, a New Jersey writer and history...read more...I highly recommend | Moms Miami //MomsMiami.com Member: suecorbett I highly recommend
the new mystery by Laura Lippman, titled Life Sentences. (For parents, definitely not kids) Stayed up late to read it and the plot is still making circles in my head this morning. It comes out March 10th. A great book club choice!read more...Happy Birthday to YOU, Dr. Seuss! | Moms Miami //MomsMiami.com Member: suecorbett Happy Birthday to YOU, Dr. Seuss!
If you, like me, have an elementary school age child, I’ll bet one birthday you’ve been reminded about this week is Dr. Seuss’s. Theodore S. Geisel, were he still alive, would turn 105 on March 2. Brigit’s school is celebrating today and the kids are supposed to dress up like their favorite Dr. Seuss character which I’m predicting is going to mean a lot of tall striped hats on the boys and girls...read more...Harold and the Purple Birdhouse | Moms Miami //MomsMiami.com Member: suecorbett Harold and the Purple Birdhouse
Continuing with my theme of multi-talented people who can afford to quit their day jobs because they are so very good at their hobbies, check out this blog entry from bookseller Alison Morris on the PW site. http://www.publishersweekly.com/blog/660000266/post/1360041136.html I wish she would mass produce them. I would take one of each. read more...Short weeks | Moms Miami //MomsMiami.com Member: suecorbett Short weeks
Why does it always seem that a Monday holiday results in a discombobulated week? I feel like it takes all week to recover from having that one day off. I started a lot of stuff this week but didn’t actually get anything done. Frustrating. Anyway, mostly what I did was read, beginning with an adorable new chapter book which I read mostly going up a mountain on a ski lift. There is a lot of time to read on ski lifts and a book...read more...Finding Your Muse | Moms Miami //MomsMiami.com Member: suecorbett Finding Your Muse
A friend of mine (thank you Joan Kindig!) sent me a link to this hilarious short film done by illustrator Jarrett Krosoczka, whose picture book Punk Farm is just about as much fun as you can have reading aloud to kids. The film is about writer’s block and features cameos by Mo Willems, Jon Scieszka, Tony DiTerlizzi, Tomi de Paola, Jeanne Birdsall, Jane Yolen and others. No wonder he was struggling with a book idea –...read more...Brown History Month | Moms Miami //MomsMiami.com Member: suecorbett Brown History Month
I was all set to recommend some new books, including the one with this incredible painting of Coretta Scott King on the cover, when I got an e-mail about a terrific resource for book buyers and classroom teachers: The Brown Bookshelf (at www.thebrownbookshelf.com ) The Brown Bookshelf is a Web site devoted to highlighting books for young readers written and illustrated by African Americans. During the month of...read more...The Latest from Hiaasen | Moms Miami //MomsMiami.com Member: suecorbett The Latest from Hiaasen
Herald columnist Carl Hiaasen's latest book for teens is as much fun as his first two, Hoot and Flush -- perfect for Florida kids who need some laughs while they're reading about how development is destroying the place they call home. As he did for the tiny burrowing ground owls in Hoot , Hiaasen turns a sympathetic spotlight on the plight of Florida Panther in Scat . The hero is Nick...read more...Newbery and Caldecott winners | Moms Miami //MomsMiami.com Member: suecorbett Newbery and Caldecott winners
As promised, here are the winners of the 2009 Newbery and Caldecott Awards: Newbery Medal: The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman Newbery Honors: Savvy by Ingrid Law The Underneath by Kathi Appelt The Surrender Tree: Poems of Cuba's Struggle for Freedom by Margarita Engle After Tupac and D Foster by Jacqueline Woodson Caldecott Medal: The House in the Night, illustrated by Beth Krommes, written by Susan Marie...read more...Handicapping the Newbery and Caldecott | Moms Miami //MomsMiami.com Member: suecorbett Handicapping the Newbery and Caldecott
It’s award season in children’s lit land. Monday, beginning at 7:45 a.m. Mountain Standard Time (the American Library Association’s Midwinter Conference is in Denver this year), librarians will announce the 2009 winners of the Newbery Medal, the Caldecott Medal, the Printz Award, the Coretta Scott King Award, and awards given in honor of a bunch of great ladies: Laura Ingalls Wilder, Margaret Edwards, May Hill...read more...Capitalize on Inauguration Excitement | Moms Miami //MomsMiami.com Member: suecorbett Capitalize on Inauguration Excitement
My brother lives in northern Virginia and we briefly contemplated making the trek to D.C. for Tuesday’s awesome moment in American history. My kids have been so jazzed about Obama’s election. It seemed like a great opportunity to capitalize on that. Alas and alack, we have been scared off by the crowd estimates, the weather forecast (possibility of snow in Virginia on Sunday and Monday – Virginia does do...read more...The End of Her Reign | Moms Miami //MomsMiami.com Member: suecorbett The End of Her Reign
Now we reach the end of Mia Thermopolis’s reign on the bestseller lists which began, 10 books ago, when the gawky, geeky 14-year-old learned she was heir to the throne of a small European principality. I loved the original Princess Diaries book but admit to not be able to keep up with Meg Cabot’s output. Meg writes books faster than I can read them. In the past decade, she’s published – this...read more...What a Hoax Steals | Moms Miami //MomsMiami.com Member: suecorbett What a Hoax Steals
A decade ago, I wrote a story about a heroic volunteer at a Red Cross shelter in Fort Lauderdale who while helping hurricane victims had been victimized himself – his wallet, and the money it contained to take his family to Disneyworld – robbed during a long, chaotic night riding out a storm. The man’s story (I have therapeutically forgotten his name) was so moving that a Fort Lauderdale City...read more...Such the Disappointment | Moms Miami //MomsMiami.com Member: suecorbett Such the Disappointment
How do people find time to blog during the holidays? I can barely keep my head above water! It’s not a good idea to get married on Dec. 19, thereby ensuring that every year there is a wedding anniversary to celebrate when you really need to be writing Christmas cards, nor is it practical to have a baby on Dec. 20 th , who grows up to insist that her birthday be celebrated each and every year. This Dec. 20 th, the baby...read more...For the poets | Moms Miami //MomsMiami.com Member: suecorbett For the poets
Hardcover picture books generally cost $16-$17 a piece. Not a lot of money but enough that you want them to be something that a child will read more than once. They are not disposable, like greeting cards. They ought to have enough heft that you can reread them several times and get something new out of each rereading. So if that’s the standard, A River of Words (Eerdmans, ages 7 and up) exceeds it by...read more...A True Story About an Amazing Dog | Moms Miami //MomsMiami.com Member: suecorbett A True Story About an Amazing Dog
Owney was a real dog that wandered into a post office in Albany , New York in 1888. Befriended by the workers, he took up residence there until, one day, he hopped aboard a train that was carrying outbound mail. The despondent workers thought they’d seen the last of their beloved pooch, but, no! Owney came back. Repeatedly. That’s right – for nearly a decade, Owney rode mail trains all over the...read more...How to Heal a Broken Wing | Moms Miami //MomsMiami.com Member: suecorbett How to Heal a Broken Wing
I am a big Bob Graham fan. (The Australian illustrator, not the Florida politician, though I like him, too.) Graham has written and illustrated some of my favorite picture books – Benny (about a travelin’ dog), Max to the Rescue (about the son of superheroes who is a late bloomer in the superpowers department), Oscar’s Half Birthday – I could go on and on. His latest book, How to...read more...Holiday road trip? | Moms Miami //MomsMiami.com Member: suecorbett Holiday road trip?
We will be driving to Tampa to see grandma at Christmas so I've got the audiobook version of A Hat Full of Sky by Terry Pratchett wrapped up as a gift and ready. The kids and I listened to the first book in this series -- The Wee Free Men -- over the summer and when they found out there were sequels, they immediately demanded to hear them. (The narrator, Stephen Briggs, is great.) If you like wacky British humor, this comic...read more...For the Little Leaguer on your list | Moms Miami //MomsMiami.com Member: suecorbett For the Little Leaguer on your list
We are big baseball fans here, and read all the small-ball fiction that comes our way. This book, Six Innings by James Preller, was my favorite middle-grade baseball novel of the year. The plot revolves around a championship game that introduces the lineup player by player, so we learn all their backstories, over the course of this six-inning nail-biter. As baseball stories go, this one's a diamond.read more...Way Cool | Moms Miami //MomsMiami.com Member: suecorbett Way Cool
(Hey! How about those Gators??) Let’s face it. Books are pretty low-tech and the engineering behind them hasn’t changed much in a couple hundred years. Yeah, in the 1970s, advanced printing methods allowed illustrators full use of their palette, but other than that . . . Until last year’s Gallop! by Rufus Butler Seder, a nifty volume which deploys a technique called “scanimation” to...read more...Something new for Harry Potter Fans | Moms Miami //MomsMiami.com Member: suecorbett Something new for Harry Potter Fans
So, ding-dong, the doorbell rang at 9:20 this morning with Kenny, my exceedingly handsome UPS driver, bringing me a review copy of J.K. Rowling's The Tales of Beedle the Bard . I immediately went to the couch and read the whole thing straight through which, despite this being written by Rowling, was actually not that significant a feat. Finally, a children's book from Rowling that is children's book length....read more...Beautiful book for baby | Moms Miami //MomsMiami.com Member: suecorbett Beautiful book for baby
If I had a baby in my life to buy a book for this year, this would be the one I’d give, a heartfelt paean to the beauty of all kinds of babies by the Australian writer Mem Fox, with illustrations by the legendary Helen Oxenbury. It could easily become the book your kids give their own kids, or we all give our (theoretical or actual -- you pick) grandkids. You can read the whole story behind the creation...read more...An Import | Moms Miami //MomsMiami.com Member: suecorbett An Import
Bog Child , Siobhan Dowd’s latest and perhaps last, novel is a masterfully told tale, set on the border between Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic in 1981. I have a particular love of Irish literature so I was a ready audience for this. It might be a challenge for younger teens, because it reaches across both time (centuries, even) and continents in the telling. It is well worth the effort though. ...read more...Speaking of voting . . . | Moms Miami //MomsMiami.com Member: suecorbett Speaking of voting . . .
In this political year, my favorite White House-themed book was this one by Barbara Kerley, What To Do About Alice ? , a spirited picture book biography of Alice Roosevelt, who gave even her adventurous dad Teddy a run for his money. Talk about your mavericks! Alice began life on a very sad note – her mother died as a result of Alice ’s birth – and decided early on to lead a life in...read more...If I had two votes for the Caldecott Medal | Moms Miami //MomsMiami.com Member: suecorbett If I had two votes for the Caldecott Medal
So the only problem I see with Kadir Nelson winning the Caldecott Medal (the awards are announced in January) is that it will mean yet another year that Marlee Frazee doesn't win. And she is due. Overdue. Big time. Like if she was a library book, they’d have her jailed by now. But I will not be surprised to see her latest book – A Couple of Boys Have The Best Week Ever -- on the list of...read more...If I had a vote for the Caldecott Medal | Moms Miami //MomsMiami.com Member: suecorbett If I had a vote for the Caldecott Medal
it would go to Kadir Nelson’s glorious history of Negro League baseball, We Are the Ship . (I will be SHOCKED if this doesn’t win, and will eat my reporter’s notebook if it doesn’t at least get a Caldecott Honor, so go ahead and look smart to your baseball-loving kid and get the book for him now. It’s probably too late to get a first edition, but you could try.) I think the publisher lists this...read more...Holiday Book-giving, the Sequel | Moms Miami //MomsMiami.com Member: suecorbett Holiday Book-giving, the Sequel
Hmm. I must admit to disappointment in the number of responses I’ve received to my quest for book titles that would make kids go wild. Here they are, in toto: The Kindred by Octavia Butler (Haven’t read this one myself, but I do love Butler – I’d say it’s teens-up just based on the sophistication of other books by her that I have read.) A writer friend recommended...read more...Holiday Book-giving | Moms Miami //MomsMiami.com Member: suecorbett Holiday Book-giving
Now that our kids are beyond the toy stage (except for our third-grader, who still becomes nearly delirious at the arrival of the American Girl catalog), gift-giving at the holidays becomes more of a challenge. We are deliberately spending less as the college years approach, and we don’t want to give a trip (last year’s gift) because, frankly, just the idea of planning it is exhausting. So, there will be...read more...Live from New York! | Moms Miami //MomsMiami.com Member: suecorbett Live from New York!
The winner of the National Book Award in the Young People's Literature category is . . . What I Saw and How I Lied by Judy Blundell! Man, do I look smart, or what? (See last Friday's blog!) I LOVE this book. read more...And the winner is . . . | Moms Miami //MomsMiami.com Member: suecorbett And the winner is . . .
Next week the National Book Foundation will announce the winners of the National Book Awards at a fancy-schmancy dinner in Manhattan . There are four categories – fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and the one I’m most invested in, young people’s literature. Despite the category’s title, the nominees are rarely from the young end of the children’s literature spectrum. Without...read more...Lemony Snicket Returns | Moms Miami //MomsMiami.com Member: suecorbett Lemony Snicket Returns
Lemony Snicket, the man who brought us books so full of despair the word “unfortunate” appeared in every title, is coming to Miami Tuesday. No, it is not a new adventure about the plucky but unlucky Baudelaire orphans – their story is done, much to Snicket’s (a.k.a. Daniel Handler) regret. ( Snicket’s Regret sounds like a book Snicket would write.) “I miss them,” Handler...read more...Just in time for Halloween | Moms Miami //MomsMiami.com Member: suecorbett Just in time for Halloween
Tales from the Crypt puts the would-be veep on the cover, brandishing a hockey stick. The stories inside are pretty scary, too. (Conor, 14, decreed them off-limits for brother Liam, 11, but I think this is paternalism. If your kids' tastes run to ghoulish, nothing here will give them nightmares.) A back-page editorial insists Tales' staff is NOT endorsing any particular candidate. Governor Palin gets the...read more...Two Events to Cheer About | Moms Miami //MomsMiami.com Member: suecorbett Two Events to Cheer About
South Florida author Debbie Reed Fischer will be waving her pom-poms at Books & Books in Bal Harbour tomorrow night to celebrate the release of her second young-adult novel, Swimming with the Sharks (Flux, $9.95, ages 12-up). The heroine, Peyton Grady, thinks she’s got it made when she makes the varsity cheerleading squad at exclusive Beachwood Prep. She doesn’t realize there’s more to being on the...read more...Talking About the Economy with Your Kids | Moms Miami //MomsMiami.com Member: suecorbett Talking About the Economy with Your Kids
My mother called last week to make sure I was worried about the stock market which, naturally, I was not. She wanted to know if my husband and I were taking money out of Wall Street but naturally my ultra-cool, what-me-worry? husband had decided it was good time to put more in. “Buy low, Mom,” I told her. Since I was not sufficiently panicked (my mother lives to worry), she then included a note with my...read more...Books for Babies | Moms Miami //MomsMiami.com Member: suecorbett Books for Babies
I always give books as new baby gifts but NEVER give Goodnight Moon . I actually love Goodnight Moon (have you seen the parody -- Goodnight Goon ? Perfect for Boo! babies) but I gave it once and my copy was the third one unwrapped. So: I'm always on the hunt for great new books for expectant parents that are not Goodnight Moon . The reason I bring this up is that Kristen...read more...The (American Born) Chinese Revolution | Moms Miami //MomsMiami.com Member: suecorbett The (American Born) Chinese Revolution
We read a lot of graphic novels in my house, (a sentence that truly surprises me since I was never a comic book reader as a kid myself), and the book that started this craze was American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang, which Liam read two years ago and has re-read about a dozen times since. (I try mightily to resist telling my kids they should move on from books they can recite word for word because I think there must be a...read more...Mixing Kids and Politics | Moms Miami //MomsMiami.com Member: suecorbett Mixing Kids and Politics
Recently I had an assignment for another publication to review all of the books published this year about politics and presidential candidates aimed at kids. I was not paid enough. No, kidding. Actually, I was a political science major in college. I love this stuff. But it got me thinking about what kids are interested in when it comes to politics, and when and how much you want to tell them (disillusion...read more...We Have Our Winner | Moms Miami //MomsMiami.com Member: suecorbett We Have Our Winner
Correct! It is Christopher Paolini, author of Eragon , Eldest and now, Brisingr (which could use another vowel -- Vanna?) After finishing the first draft of his latest installment in the Inheritance Cycle, he and and his sister took the executive protection/defensive driving class, practicing forward and reverse 180s, and other evasive tactics while people shot paintballs at them. This does not sound like fun to me but...read more...Quiz time! | Moms Miami //MomsMiami.com Member: suecorbett Quiz time!
The photo above was taken at the Bondurant School of High Performance Driving near Phoenix , Arizona , a facility that trains race car drivers, bodyguards, and celebrity chauffeurs. The driver in this photo is taking the Executive Protection/Anti-Kidnapping class, (4 days, $5,925, according to the Bondurant website – www.bondurant.com ) “designed to prepare executives, their families, staff and...read more...Books Too Dreadful to Bother Reading | Moms Miami //MomsMiami.com Member: suecorbett Books Too Dreadful to Bother Reading
My high school freshman somehow found time in his incredibly busy day to not only start but finish Gordon Korman’s new book, The Juvie 3 , fewer than 24 hours after I handed it to him. (I have a mental image of Conor sneaking in a paragraph or two while he’s supposed to be following what Senora Cowley is explaining in rapid-fire Spanish.) “You HAVE to read it, Mom,” was his response. Then he left again...read more...Webkinz without the Stuffed Animals | Moms Miami //MomsMiami.com Member: suecorbett Webkinz without the Stuffed Animals
So many times when you hear a lot of buzz about a forthcoming book it turns out to be a big dud. Sizzle over substance. Not so with The 39 Clues by Rick Riordan ($12.99, ages 8-12), the first installment in a projected 10-volume series, for which the publisher, Scholastic, has pulled out all the stops. The book is supported by trading cards, a Web site, and a contest with $100,000 in prizes. Gimmicky? You...read more...Small victories | Moms Miami //MomsMiami.com Member: suecorbett Small victories
In my never-ending battle to make reading as attractive as, say, Total Drama Island (which I made Brigit turn off last night in order for us to read a bedtime story, with much grumbling on her end), I have scored another victory. Brigit’s BFF Olivia, who previously had declared “reading is boring,” has joined our book club. On the walk to school yesterday she reported, with obvious pride, that she was almost...read more...Our overprogrammed kids | Moms Miami //MomsMiami.com Member: suecorbett Our overprogrammed kids
When my kids were little, I remember those last few weeks of summer vacation seemed interminable. How I wished for school to start so I could hang up my Camp Mommy whistle for another nine months. I actually looked forward to picking up the toy litter in the family room and having it remain neat, at least until 4 o’clock . No more. With a high school freshman, a sixth grader and a third...read more...Olympic Reading | Moms Miami //MomsMiami.com Member: suecorbett Olympic Reading
My family is on vacation this week which normally means a lot of poolside reading for me. But the Olympics are on and I am hooked, as usual. (Shawn Johnson for President! Wouldn’t you be proud to be her mother??? What a class act.) I’ve only finished one YA novel – Paper Towns by John Green (and it was very entertaining. More on that soon.) But one book I made time to read before vacation was The...read more...Retold Graphic Fairy Novels? | Moms Miami //MomsMiami.com Member: suecorbett Retold Graphic Fairy Novels?
Who said publishing is a staid industry? I see a fertile field, where cross-pollination keeps creating new ways of retelling familiar stories. Case in point: A new graphic novel, Rapunzel’s Revenge by David and Shannon Hale (she of Princess Academy and Goose Girl fame), illustrated by (no relation) Nathan Hale ( Bloomsbury , $14.99, ages 8 and up). This muscular retelling of the old fairy tale about the girl in the...read more...Stories To Go | Moms Miami //MomsMiami.com Member: suecorbett Stories To Go
I may be one of the last mothers in America still driving a sedan but it’s looking like a smart choice this summer with a lot of road trips and gas costing between $3.75 and $4.29 a gallon at various spots up and down the East Coast. ($52 to fill up a Honda Accord in Philly this week – who would have believed it?) However, if you have a small car, there’s no muffling the whining or squabbling by...read more...After Dawn Breaks | Moms Miami //MomsMiami.com Member: suecorbett After Dawn Breaks
Okay, so I've already found out that I'm not going to get my wish, outlined in my previous blog post. Wedding chimes ring in Breaking Dawn . You can read all about it here -- http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20215228,00.html – but don’t click through if you aren’t ready to have the plot spoiled a bit. I now officially give up on Bella. However, I have one more thing to say on the subject...read more...What Our Teenage Daughters are Reading | Moms Miami //MomsMiami.com Member: suecorbett What Our Teenage Daughters are Reading
Recently, I found myself in the awkward position of being the interviewee rather than the interviewer, when a reporter writing a story about the Stephenie Meyer phenomenon called to ask me my opinion of the Twilight series. In case you live a teenage girl-free existence, these books are about a high school senior named Bella Swan who has two “boys” in love with her – the drop-dead gorgeous...read more...It's a bird, it's a plane, it's a super . . . book! | Moms Miami //MomsMiami.com Member: suecorbett It's a bird, it's a plane, it's a super . . . book!
One of the great things about modern picture books is the broad variety of subject matters they cover. I’m constantly astonished by how much I learn from reading books targeted at eight year olds. Forget being smarter than a fifth grader. Kids well versed in contemporary picture books could hold their own on Jeopardy . Case in point: Boys of Steel: The Creators of Superman , written by...read more...Cool Fun on a Summer Night | Moms Miami //MomsMiami.com Member: suecorbett Cool Fun on a Summer Night
If you are going to hear the Irish author Eoin Colfer speak, I highly recommend you wear loose-fitting clothing. This is because you will laugh so hard so could wind up splitting the seams of something tight. I issue this warning because Colfer, who lives in Wexford on Ireland ’s east coast, is on his way to the U.S. to promote the release of the sixth volume in his wildly popular (nine million copies sold)...read more...Winners | Moms Miami //MomsMiami.com Member: suecorbett Winners
Earlier this week, the winners of the 2008 Newbery and Caldecott medals picked up their awards at a fancy-schmancy banquet during the American Library Association’s annual conference, in Anaheim , CA. Brian Selznick, Caldecott winner for The Invention of Hugo Cabret , reportedly gave a speech that was as magical as the book itself – quite a feat. Then it was Laura Amy Schlitz’s turn to...read more...A Mouse for the Holidays | Moms Miami //MomsMiami.com Member: suecorbett A Mouse for the Holidays
One of the most fun events I attended at Book Expo last month (this is an annual bookseller convention where publishers flaunt their forthcoming Big Titles) was a preview with producers Gary Ross and Allison Thomas of their upcoming film adaptation of Kate DiCamillo’s Newbery Medal-winning novel, A Tale of Despereaux . Ross and Thomas, a husband-and-wife team, showed us clips and talked about the process of...read more...Need Must-reads for the Elementary School Set | Moms Miami //MomsMiami.com Member: suecorbett Need Must-reads for the Elementary School Set
Okay, so I gave out the summer reading list to my book club at our last meeting and let’s just say nobody did any spontaneous cartwheels. This is one of the problems of trying to pick books from the Accelerated Reader list (has everybody else become handcuffed to what’s on the AR list, or is it just our neighborhood elementary?) The AR books tend to be, shall we say, less than au courant. The great new books I’ve...read more...(Book) Clubbing for Young Readers | Moms Miami //MomsMiami.com Member: suecorbett (Book) Clubbing for Young Readers
When my daughter was in first grade she rejected chapter books. Sort of like my middle child at the same age. Both kids were so comfortable sitting on mom and dad’s lap for a picture book, they lacked motivation to read on their own or – heaven forfend – tackle a book without pictures! An Intervention was required. Graphic novels turned Liam into a reader, but I sensed that wasn't...read more...A Baby Book That Made Me Cry Like One | Moms Miami //MomsMiami.com Member: suecorbett A Baby Book That Made Me Cry Like One
Does this sound strange? I love a book that makes me cry. But Mem Fox, the prolific Australian picture book writer, made me cry in PUBLIC (embarrassing!) when she read her newest book, Ten Little Fingers, Ten Little Toes , aloud last week at Book Expo in Los Angeles. A paean to the beauty of all kinds of babies, its heartfelt and universal appeal ought to guarantee it an audience for, oh, let’s say, the next...read more...What to Read this Fall | Moms Miami //MomsMiami.com Member: suecorbett What to Read this Fall
Greetings from Los Angeles, day two of Book Expo America, publishing’s biggest trade show of the year. These conventions are exhausting – it’s like trying to fit a gallon’s worth of information, networking and socializing into a quart-size container, but I always come away re-energized, in part, because you get to hear from the authors directly, and learn about the stories that led them to writing....read more...Gay marriage for the Picture Book set | Moms Miami //MomsMiami.com Member: suecorbett Gay marriage for the Picture Book set
It’s a terribly heavy thing to hang a milestone on a picture book but Uncle Bobby’s Wedding by Sarah S. Brannen (Putnam, $15.99) wears its oh-so-lightly. The straightforward story involves a little guinea pig named Chloe’s fear that her Uncle Bobby’s affection for her, and the amount of time they spend together, will change now that he’s announced he is getting married. Getting to know his...read more...OUTRAGEOUS reading for Jerry Springer fans | Moms Miami //MomsMiami.com Member: suecorbett OUTRAGEOUS reading for Jerry Springer fans
I could be really elitist and wonder aloud, “Jerry Springer fans read?,” but my darling sister is a Stanford PhD, an avid TV soaps fan, and devours People magazine – there’s all the evidence I need. So here is a book, marketed to teens, which will appeal to anybody who’s ever indulged their voyeuristic instincts and watched an hour of debauchery emceed by Springer and his ilk:...read more...Summer Reading | Moms Miami //MomsMiami.com Member: suecorbett Summer Reading
This week I read the latest installment in Miami author Laurie Friedman’s books about Mallory McDonald, a winsome character who perfectly embodies all the emotions, fears and joys of your average third-grader. Campfire Mallory (Carolrhoda Books, $15.95, ages 7 to 10) begins with the end of school, a day traditionally associated with overwhelming happiness (on the part of the teachers, anyway) but which in Mallory’s...read more...Books for Bouncy Boys and Girls | Moms Miami //MomsMiami.com Member: suecorbett Books for Bouncy Boys and Girls
I avoid books written by celebrities for reasons that can be pretty much summed up by “life is short,” but this week I read the latest book by The Fonz. If you’re my age (child of the ‘70s), The Fonz was always good for a few laughs, usually at his own expense, when he rode his hog onto the set of Happy Days . If you’re the age of my kids, The Fonz is Henry Winkler, a guy who writes books about...read more...A hit series comes in on little cat feet | Moms Miami //MomsMiami.com Member: suecorbett A hit series comes in on little cat feet
I didn’t learn about the viral popularity of The Warriors series, which debuted quietly in 2003, from seeing the books on various bestseller lists, although they are there, or from a pitch by a publicist, or even – shocking – by reading one myself and loving it. Oh no. I figured it out when the books began disappearing from my home. Babysitters who hadn’t finished by the time their night shift...read more...This Man May Be a Genius | Moms Miami //MomsMiami.com Member: suecorbett This Man May Be a Genius
There are myriad reasons to study poetry – it encourages careful observation of the world, it’s a healthy outlet for emotions, it builds vocabulary, it teaches rhythm and cadence, it inspires the imagination. But Jack Prelutsky, America ’s first-ever children’s poet laureate has done a better job than possibly anyone at persuading children that poetry is worth their while. How? By...read more...An Award-Worthy Follow-up | Moms Miami //MomsMiami.com Member: suecorbett An Award-Worthy Follow-up
Sequels are tricky things. Sequels to beloved books are trickiest. One of my favorite books of all time is Belle Prater’s Boy by Ruth White, which was a Newbery Honor book in 1997. The follow-up, titled The Search for Belle Prater , appeared in 2005, and was a dreadful disappointment, nearly spoiling the magic of the first book, a novel with a perfectly satisfying ending. ...read more...Lighting a candle on a worthy life | Moms Miami //MomsMiami.com Member: suecorbett Lighting a candle on a worthy life
One of the highest honors a Latino/Latina author or illustrator can receive is the Pura Belpré Award, presented by the American Library Association to those whose work best portrays, affirms, and celebrates the Latino cultural experience in a work of literature for children. So just who is this Pura Belpré, anyway? Luc í a Gonz á lez, best known in South Florida as...read more...Location, location, location | Moms Miami //MomsMiami.com Member: suecorbett Location, location, location
There’s a special pleasure to reading a novel set in a real place you know well, and one of the things I loved about Dorian Cirrone’s new book, Prom Kings and Drama Queens , (HarperTeen, $16.99, ages 12-up) was matching local landmarks to their thinly veiled counterparts in her fictional Fort Lauderdale. The chapter titles are written as headlines, tracking the progress of Hurricane Emily, who shares a name with...read more...What My Kids are Reading | Moms Miami //MomsMiami.com Member: suecorbett What My Kids are Reading
One sure-fire strategy to get my electronics-obsessed kids to read is to find a book with irresistible subject matter. Baseball is big with my boys, so during the long months of winter, we stoke our hot stove league discussions with novels and nonfiction about America ’s Favorite Pastime. This year we discovered two new books that stand heads and shoulders above the usual sports fare. Kadir Nelson has...read more...
July 2010 
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