World Read Aloud Day

Today is World Read Aloud Day, a grand idea. I don't do it often enough. I'll read some poems from Roots and Flowers: Poets and Poems on Family, edited by Liz Rosenburg. I'm re-reading all my picture books, now unpacked after 3 plus years in storage while we were travelling, and I'll choose a few of those to read aloud like Night Garden:Poems from the World of Dreams by Janet S. Wong and illustrated by Julie Paschkis. And I'm writing reviews today, so I'll read the text aloud (First Garden: the White House Garden and How It Grew & Planting the Wild Garden) to help me prepare.


What will you read aloud today?

National Book Festival 2010

We had a great time at the National Book Festival this past Saturday. We were especially happy for the chance to see our client and friend Pat Mora in action -- she's an awesome speaker.

Pat Mora

 Katherine Paterson

Katherine Paterson

Anita Silvey

Jules Feiffer and Norton Juster



 Rebecca Stead with a young fan at the New York state exhibit in the Pavilion of States

Cigars, Casitas and Children's Books

We took a trip to Ybor City, once the cigar capital of the world,where Cubans, Spaniards and Italians lived and worked. The Ybor City State Museum, a Florida State Park, is housed in an old bakery. Along with exhibits detailing life in the late 1800's, there's a small representation of the room where workers rolled cigars, and it includes a raised area where a reader, El Lector, would read aloud the newspaper and literature such as Anna Karenina. Listening to the ranger's talk, I had a foggy memory of a related children's book, and sure enough, when I looked it up back home found El Lector by William Durbin.

Food for Thought

Jane Brocket reveals her Top 10 Food Scenes in Children's Literature in the Guardian."I spent my childhood revelling and luxuriating in lovely descriptions of meals and picnics and treats, and found that it was the taste memories that lingered on long after the details of plots had faded from my mind. Children's literature contains a feast, a banquet, a menu gastronomique of treats and delicious foodstuff; this is my top 10 evocative, mouth-watering and memorable food moments from the past."
Thanks to Shelf Awareness for the link.