Welcome to the December 28, 2011 Carnival of Children's Literature
I've marked specific holiday-related links and done a little editorializing here and there. Enjoy all the great links, ideas, reviews, and projects here and don't forget to check out January 2012's carnival at Delightful Children's Books
Book Projects
- **Holiday** Carol Hampton Rasco presents Under the Tree... at Rasco from RIF showcasing a family tradition and lots of new holiday titles.
- Eric Van Raepenbusch presents Happy Birthday William Joyce - December 11, posted at Happy Birthday Author. He has instructions for making Cocoa Moon Craters to celebrate William Joyce's birthday and his new book, The Man in the Moon, first in the Guardians of Childhood series.
- GT Laden presents Harry Potter: Books cf Movies, posted at Greg Laden's Blog. Check out some Harry Potter stats!
- My own contribution to this month's carnival is some stats on this year's Cybils Nonfiction Picture Book Nominations, posted here at Jean Little Library.
- Lisa Ard presents Struggling with a book description, posted at Adventures in Writing and Publishing. This post discusses manuscript pitch, synopsis and description.
- Zoe Toft presents a review of Atinuke's newest book, The No. 1 Car Spotter and the Firebird posted at Playing by the Book. (I'm excited! I just finished the first title in this series and didn't know the sequel was out yet!)
- Catherine Nichols presents Cybils Nominee: Toys Come Home, posted at The Cath in the Hat.
- J McManus has offered her stories about Talee, Anyia, and Nola for free at Read My Books for Free, posted at Journey of a Storyteller.
- Ali B says novels about Vikings seem to be popular at the moment with UK publishers, and she has a round-up of her favorites, Norse Code, posted at Fantastic Reads.
- **Holiday** Read Aloud Dad presents The Ultimate Christmas Read Aloud Collection, posted at Read Aloud Dad.
- Pamela Jorrick presents her 13 year old daughter's review of Midnight Blue, posted at Blah, Blah, Blog.
- **Holiday** Amy Broadmoore presents ten excellent snow-themed picture books - and some great snow activities - in 10 Children's Books About Snow, posted at Delightful Children's Books. (Thanks Amy! I never have enough snow books for my library displays!)
- Pat Zietlow Miller presents KID REVIEW: Sophie dives into Bluefish, posted at Read, Write Repeat. 11 year old Sophie gives the high points of Bluefish and Pat offers some additional thoughts and links.
- Jen Robinson presents All These Things I've Done by Gabrielle Zevin, posted at Jen Robinson's Book Page (Who wouldn't want to read about a dystopia where chocolate is illegal? I have to buy this for the teens!)
- Margo Tanenbaum presents a book review of Jefferson's Sons: A Founding Father's Secret Children by Kimberley Brubaker Bradley, posted at The Fourth Musketeer. Margo says this is one of her favorite historical fiction releases this year - check it out!
- **Holiday** Melissa Taylor presents an Educational Gift Guide for Kids: Books, posted at Imagination Soup. She says these are her favorite and what she thinks are the best books of 2011 - and I can tell you all, there's an amazing variety! Books for very young children, funny books, craft books, graphic novels, fiction, nonfiction, it's all there. Start making notes for next year!
- Keely Parrack presents A Monster of a Writer - Newbery Ponders, posted at Fragments. "A critical analysis of the writing in the first page of A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness as part of Newbery pondering." This would make an interesting resource for a book club - especially if you have an adult book club that's interested in reading some children's literature.
- Katie Sorene presents Top 10 Children's Tales set in Magical Lands, posted at Travel Blog - Tripbase. She says this is a selection of magical children's tales, 1865 - 2002 including timeless classics such as Peter Pan and the Wizard of Oz as well as more modern publications like Harry Potter and Coraline. (Very interesting list - I love Little Nemo the movie, but could never get into the comics. Hmm, I can see lots of discussion going on here! Hop over and comment!)
- **Holiday** Jama Rattigan presents Loving Lisa Schroeder's Sprinkles and Secrets posted at Jama's Alphabet Soup. Enjoy her review and then follow the recipe for yummy cookies!
- **Holiday** Erik Metz presents a review of Santa Claws, posted at Kid Book Ratings. He says, "Tis the season to be reviewing Christmas books..." (OK, this is NOT your usual Christmas book fare! Heh heh heh)
- Debra Black presents a review of The Manual of Detection, posted at Litland (Sounds fun! I think I'll check this one out myself...)
- **Holiday** Kate Coombs presents a YA Holiday Extravaganza of book suggestions at Book Aunt. She says, "Take a look at 9 books for YA readers--adventure, paranormal, mystery, realistic fiction, dystopian, and fantasy! Eight are new and the 9th won this year's Schneider Family Teen Book Award."
- Brenda Kahn presents a review of Bluefish by Pat Schmatz, posted at Proseandkahn.
- **Holiday** Janelle presents Children's Books that portray Nativity sets, posted at Brimful Curiosities (An interesting collection of holiday books - check it out!)
- Amy presents all the juvenile and ya fiction she read in 2011 - and picks her favorites! Posted at Hope is the Word
- Myra has a great list of wordless books posted at Gathering Books
- Toni presents Duck and Goose: How are you feeling? posted at Wifely Steps. She says, "A great children's book is one your toddler enjoys and one you enjoy reading with him too!" (That toddler is definitely enjoying!)
- Katie Davis presents Best 20 Books of 2011 posted at Katie Davis, Author/Illustrator. This is a podcast interview with two amazing librarians, Travis Jonker and John Schumacher!
- Shirley Duke presents her latest book, Environmental Disasters, posted at SimplyScience Blog. The book explains and discusses past and recent disasters and their impact on the environment and Shirley also provides some related activities.
- Corinne Robson, Associate Editor presents a Week-end Book Review: Drawing from Memory by Allen Say, posted at PaperTigers Blog.
- Roberta Gibson presents Off to Class: Incredible and Unusual Schools Around the World, posted at Wrapped in Foil. She says, "Susan Hughes takes a peek into unusual classrooms in this testament to the amazing resiliency of both education and children around the globe. This book has been nominated for a Cybils award in the MG/YA nonfiction category. (This is a very cool book! I recommend it!)
- Jeff Barger presents a Nonfiction Monday post on Catherine Sill's About Hummingbirds, posted at NC Teacher Stuff. He says, "The artwork in About Hummingbirds is beautiful. It has a great mix of easy text in the narrative and detailed facts in the back matter."
- Sarah Albee presents You Give Me Fever, posted at Sarah Albee. She says this is a post from her history blog aimed at middle grade readers, exploring topics such as the effect of insects on human history, history of sanitation, and funky fashion through the ages. (I say, when are we getting another book Ms. Albee? My middle schoolers yearn for a sequel to Poop Happened!)
- Anastasia Suen presents another Nonfiction Monday post - Booktalking, featuring two books about the sea, one tropical and the other a 50 year exploration of the cold Arctic! posted at Booktalking
- Sandra McLeod Humphrey presents Dare to Dream Big: from social nonconformist to world renowned philosopher and writer, posted at Dare to Dream Big. Her blog is part educational, part inspirational and each week she posts a new biography of someone who overcame great obstacles to attain their dream.
- Kathy Stinson presents An Intimate Examination of Sock Fluff - Part 1, posted at Turning the Pages: Kathy Stinson's Blog.
- April Halprin Wayland shares an original poem, "First Book" and asks readers to share memories of their first book in What Was Your First Book? Comments will help provide books for needy children through FirstBook.org. Posted at Teaching Authors
