Jacket Whys has compiled a post with the covers of 2010 YA books with African-American protagonists. I love, love, love the cover of Maxine Banks is Getting Married by Lori Aurelia Williams (Roaring Brook, 2010).It's not Banned Books Week any more, but that doesn't mean we should no longer be paying attention to book challenges across the nation. Laurie Halse Anderson pointed me to Risha Mullins's account of the challenges that went on in her Kentucky school and eventually lead to her resignation from her job as an English teacher. It seriously brought me to tears that an exemplary teacher, having such a positive effect on her students' love of reading and reading scores, could be treated this way.
While you're at it, check out SpeakLoudly.org, "a group of teachers, librarians, bloggers, and authors who have come together to speak out against the censorship of media materials for teens".
On a lighter note, the Twilight hand model wants a piece of the pie. Thanks to Travis at 100 Scope Notes for the link.
Reviews of board books can be few and far between, so it's a good thing that Jill at The Well-Read Child has posted several of them.
Looking for some great science titles? Finalists for the 2011 Science Books & Films Awards have been announced! SB&F is an online review journal for children's and young adult science titles. Thanks to @C_Spaghetti for the link!
As we try to figure out how to get boys to enjoy reading and people start saying that we need more male authors, Maureen Johnson begs us to think about how female authors are presented and marketed. She says,
So, we’re thinking about boys and girls and what they read. The assumption, as I understand it, is that females are flexible and accepting creatures who can read absolutely anything. We’re like acrobats. We can tie our legs over our heads. Bring it on. There is nothing we cannot handle. Boys, on the other hand, are much more delicately balanced. To ask them to read “girl” stories (whatever those might be) will cause the whole venture to fall apart. They are finely tuned, like Formula One cars, which require preheated fluids and warmed tires in order to operate—as opposed to girls, who are like pickup trucks or big, family-style SUVs. We can go anywhere, through anything, on any old literary fuel you put in us.
Largely because we have little choice in the matter.Thanks to my friend Margaret for the link. :)
And that's all she wrote. Because she is tired. And this is the Week That Will Not End.
Have a good one, folks!