Return to the Hundred Acre Wood

An authorized sequel to Winnie-the-Pooh and The House at Pooh Corner is due out the first part of October. It is being written by David Benedictus. Have you ever wondered how they choose the person to write a sequel when it isn't the original author? This one has me puzzled as to why him. I did a quick search on B&T, World Cat and our own database and although he is an author he has not written any children's books. He has read for several audio versions of some Winnie-the-Pooh stories with some very distinguished names e.g. Judy Dench and Geoffrey Palmer. Maybe this gives him a feel for the stories and the characters making him a good candidate. We shall have to wait until October to see how he does.

Where the Wild Things Are

Have you seen the movie trailer for Where the Wild Things Are? Usually I'm not that entralled with movies made from picture books, but this one has caught my attention. I may even go see it!

How Not to Use PowerPoint

We have all used PowerPoint and we have all got blurry eyed at watching badly made PowerPoints.
How Not to Use PowerPoint is a fun, but useful guide to help us avoid the mistakes.

Gesturing is Now Part of Early Literacy

Early Child Gesture Show Important Link To School Preparedness - Differences Discovered Based On Social Economic Status
The University of Chicago has just released the results of study showing the more a toddler gestures the more likely they will be better prepared for school than a toddler that used few gestures. The article refers to natural gestures such as pointing and waving goodbye. I wonder if there is a connection with finger rhymes since this is such an integral part of story times?

Center for Early Literacy Learning (CELL)

Center for Early Literacy Learning (CELL) has wonderful, ready to print handouts on early literacy for your storytimes. Not only for pre-schoolers but also for infants and toddlers. What a handy, and useful way to share early literacy with you storytime parents.

Print them out, hand them out, change them weekly.

Series Wiki

Webster Public Library in Webster, New York, has created a Wiki on children's fiction series. It is very easy to navigate and would be useful in reference as well as reader's advisory.

Read Kiddo Read

James Patterson has a website named ReadKiddoRead. He offers suggested reading for different age groups: 0-6, 6 & up, 8 & up, 10 & up. He also has a list of "Almost Can't Miss Sure Shot Books for Boys." It's easy to navigate, colorful and offers lists of "if you liked this try" for titles. It also offers places to buy the book chosen...wish they could have put a note to try your local library. All in all it could become a very useful site. Check it out.