Comment Challenge

In the beginning there were the blogs.  

They were the only way we had of looking around and saying, "Hey, there ARE other people out here who love and adore and are passionate about children's and young adult books." 

And we said, "This is cool!" and we read each others thoughts and we commented and build a community that is today the KidLitosphere.  Then came Facebook and Twitter and a listserv and the Cybils and an annual conference and we had so many other ways of communicating and sharing that the blog commenting was no longer the primary way of discussing and discoursing.

In January, MotherReader offers us the chance to revive and return to the venue that brought us together, the Comment Box.   Sign up now at MotherReader's post about the event and start commenting.  There are prizes! Lee Wind also writes about the challenge and his post will energize you for sure.

Kidlitosphere Central

Yippee Ki Yay!

MotherReader announces the new Kidlitosphere Central.

The need for a centralized point for all things "kidlitosphere" was initially discussed at the first Kidlitosphere conference in Chicago and now it is a reality!

Thank you to Mother Reader and these other hardworking kidlitospherians for this site:

Pamela W. Coughlan, Director, MotherReader
Elizabeth Burns, A Chair, a Fireplace, and a Tea Cozy
Kelly Herold, Big A, little a
Anne Boles Levy, Cybils
Jen Robinson, Jen Robinson’s Book Page

The site looks wonderful! Love the color scheme and design!

Brava! Brava!

What started as individuals blogging independently about children's and young adult books became a collective of like-minded people. While maintaining our own sites and unique perspectives, shared activities made us a thriving community. Now — with weekly celebrations of poetry and nonfiction, an online literary journal, a shared database of book reviews, discussion groups, contests, social networks, an annual conference, and our own book awards — we've become a society.

YA Books and More

Do check out the blog, YA Books and More by Texas high school uber-librarian Naomi Bates.

Bates reads and loves the books! (I mention that because IMHO that is an essential qualification to be a school librarian and it is not always the case.)

She generously shares her reviews and book trailers with Texas school librarians on the TLC listserv. I always find her views insightful and thought-provoking.

She needs to be added to every kidlitosphere blogroll.

Kidlitosphere

Kidlitospherian, TLA Bloggers' Tea Organizer, author, consultant, staff developer, and Nonfiction Monday founder, Anastasia Suen, has a new gig to share her interest and knowledge of children's books.

She is now blogging at Scholastic's Teaching Resources. Check out Kid Lit Kit: Your Toolkit for Teaching with Books.

Blogging Reviewers

Finding Neverland has an excellent toon on the topic of blogging reviewers. It cuts to the chase!

I have had a chuckle reading the discussion at Roger Reads about the role of blogger reviewers vs print reviewers (currently 63 comments and climbing.) The comments evolved into a multifaceted conversation about the motives of blogging reviewers and swag and cupcakes.

With family members who are journalists I have been aware of the supposed tension between the "news professionals" aka "journalists" and the "amatuers," aka "bloggers in pajamas" for some years now. (I am fully dressed thank you, although, I am wearing Ugg slippers, oops!)

So the question of professional vs amateur (DO pronounce it with a French accent) their motivations, agendas, and gushings etc. have been well hashed out in other blogging realms.

This has been fun to read though and there are many very thoughtful posts and comments about why we kidlitospherians do what we do.

As usual, Roger made a point in the discussion that resonated with me.

I'm guessing that most blog reviewers would say, "I review what I want to review." That's fine, too, and attractively anarchic. But I find, anyway, that those reviews tell me more about the reviewer than they do about the book. And I hasten to say I've met some pretty interesting minds this way.
8:35 PM, April 17, 2007

This comment is exactly why I enjoy kidlitosphere reviews. They do tell us about the voices in this community. I have never heard any of their voices, (well, actually , I have the voices of Chris Barton and Cynthia LS and Fuse #8 (on NPR) but Miss Erin's perspective is different than LizB's and MotherReader makes me laugh and Jen is often focused on literacy and reading and Kelly always has an insight that never occured to me and Indefatigable Kelly just does it all.

Michele is who I would probably be if I had been born in Angleterre and Sheila always finds a book my girls and I need to read as does Susan . There are new blogs and voices to add to my blogroll everyday.

A few years ago, there was a big push to teach 4th graders about "voice." Fourth grade is the writing test year here in Texas. The teachers were always in search of novels with a strong "voice." Well, ok. I don't know what the writing pedagogy flavor of the month is this year. I daresay it is something new.

I asked a student once if they could tell me what "voice" was and the child answered, "It is the sound I hear when I read a book."

I do hear the "voices" of the kidlitospherians when I read their reviews.

From School Library Journal

Liz B has an article in the new School Library Journal, "Curl Up With A Cup of Tea and a Good Blog" and has assembled a great list of "Must Reads" from the kidlitosphere.
She has kindly included Book Moot.

Liz shares some great reasons for checking out these blogs:

Perhaps you're lucky enough to work with colleagues with whom you share a passion for kids' books—or not. For those of us who are the sole children's or teen specialist at our library, it can get pretty lonely. Say you've just read a book and want to rave (or rant) about it, or you need to figure out which books to buy on a limited budget. Where can you turn? Sure, there are print publications, such as School Library Journal and the Horn Book. But as great as those magazines are, you may want more in the way of diverse opinions and extended reviews, not to mention a place to get answers to your questions or connect with fellow bibliophiles.

When I started this blog over 2.5 years ago there were a few folks blogging about children's books but not many. I know, I was looking for them. It has been an amazing experience to be part of the growth of this blogging community.

Right now, I am going to see if my school librarian soul sister will let me borrow her copy of SLJ. I want to see the photo of Liz blogging with Cheetah and Peter Parker!