ShelfTalker: A Children's Bookseller's Blog

November 11, 2009 | Link This | Email this | Comments (3)

Here's the updated list of starred reviews for 2009 children's books. For book covers and more information, I've created the 2009 Stars Library on LibraryThing.com.

This month saw two books join the 5-star list: Frances Hardinge's fantasy, THE LOST CONSPIRACY (Harper), and Elizabeth Partridge's MARCHING FOR FREEDOM: WALK TOGETHER, CHILDREN, AND DON'T YOU GROW WEARY (Viking). Two more books hopped up to the 4-star level: BAD NEWS FOR OUTLAWS: THE REMARKABLE LIFE OF BASS REEVES, DEPUTY U.S. MARSHAL by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson; illus. by R. Gregory Christie (Carolrhoda), and JOHN BROWN: HIS FIGHT FOR FREEDOM by John Hendrix (Abrams).  Several books joined the 1-, 2-, and 3-star list...Read More

November 3, 2009 | Link This | Email this | Comments (13)

Guest blogger Kenny Brechner from DDG Booksellers writes:

As you can see from this PW article, Simon & Schuster is now selling e-chapters of books. As exciting as this advance is it doesn't go nearly far enough, which is why, at DDG, our crack team of scientists has just developed the next big advance for reading, the Corneal Lens "Pay as you go" E-Reading Register.

When you fill your car with gas you only pay for what goes in the tank, right? And that's the beauty of the CLERR™: you only pay for what you actually read. As easy to put in as a contact lens, the CLERR™ emits a colorless laser image which interacts with the CLERR&trad...Read More

October 29, 2009 | Link This | Email this | Comments (37)

Fat issues loom large in our culture, as it were, and kids pick up messages about how they should look that batter their confidence at every turn. Literature for young people should be one place where kids don't find themselves mocked, dismissed, or shamed. I am not talking about books that deal directly with weight; it's the books that don't realize they are reinforcing negative stereotypes that concern me.

While we have all become accustomed to popular culture’s celebration of thin, what I didn’t expect is that books — the refuge of the chubby kid, the place where people understand the value of what lies beneath the surface, a land of acceptance and tolerance for difference — would come around to betray their readers. ...Read More

October 19, 2009 | Link This | Email this | Comments (26)

With so many of you, we share the sad news that beloved writer and teacher, colleague and friend Norma Fox Mazer passed away over the weekend after a sudden and courageous battle with cancer. Norma was an award-winning writer for children and young adults; she was also a lovely, wise, brilliant person whose warmth was felt by strangers and friends alike. She was a calm, good-humored presence, easy to relax around, with the most wonderful smile. But she was also alert, quick, incisive, and direct, a trusted critic and advisor.

Students at the Vermont College of Fine Arts called her the Sultan of Structure for her unfailing expertise in that ...Read More

October 15, 2009 | Link This | Email this | Comments (14)

Halloween is almost upon us, and we thought we'd share with you several new titles and a few perennial favorites to get kids of all ages in the mood for the spooky holiday that comes with candy.

To start things off, here's a great book to help families set the scene for creative Halloween festivities: Extreme Halloween: The Ultimate Guide to Making Halloween Scary Again, by Tom Nardone (Perigee, $14.95 ISBN 039953525X). Nardone, who brought us Extreme Pumpkins II last year, loves Halloween like Roseanne and Dan Connor of TV fame—the more gleefully grisly, the better. Lots of great projects for in and outside the house, from party tips and treats to full-blown haunted houses. Why not have an alligator in ...Read More