Morning Notes: Book Xylophone Edition

GIVE BOOKS TO A SCHOOL THAT NEEDS THEM

The 2011 edition of the Guys Lit Wire Book Fair is underway and I encourage one and all to lend a hand by buying a book for Ballou Senior High School in Washington DC. Let’s help them build a library, folks ! Click here for more information on Ballou and how to give.

*Note* I ran into a bit of trouble accessing the Ballou wishlist with Firefox, so switch to a different browser if you experience any issues.

(Thanks to Chasing Ray for the link)

CHILDREN CHOOSE WINNER

The Children’s Choice Book Awards were just announced. Here’s the rundown:

Author of the Year: Rick Riordan for The Lost Hero

Illustrator of the Year: David Wiesner for Art & Max

K-2nd Grade Book of the Year: Little Pink Pup by Johanna Kerby

3-4th Grade Book of the Year: Lunch Lady and the Summer Camp Shakedown by Jarrett J. Krosoczka

5-6th Grade Book of the Year: The Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan

Teen Choice Book of the Year: Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan

Probably the biggest surprise for me was seeing Little Pink Pup take the K-2 award. I should have known better, though – that book has been on fire in my libraries ever since we added it. Click here for a PDF of all the winners.

(Thanks to Brooke Botsford at Goodman Media for the details)

FIRE-BREATHING SWAN = AWESOME COVER

I’ve hit up my favorite bad cover blog, Good Show Sir, before, but when you see a cover like this, can you blame me for going back to the well?

48 HOUR BOOK CHALLENGE IS OFFICIAL

The announcement was just made over at the excellent MotherReader – plan accordingly. Click here for details.

MOCK CALDECOTT BLOG COMING

It is at times like these, when I am excited and sharing the news that the Horn Book will be starting a blog devoted to finding the Caldecott winner, that I realize I can’t make fun of my friends for conducting mock drafts for their fantasy football teams. While that bums me out a bit, I just think of how cool this Caldecott blog is going to be and I perk right back up. They’re even holding a contest to name said blog. I’m throwing Regarding Randolph into the ring. Click here to read.

T/F: KINDLE COLOR

How’s this for a completely unsubstantiated rumor: Amazon may have just put in an order to their Kindle manufacturer for some color touchscreen action. Wait, maybe not. Either way, you know it’s bound to happen.

ARBUTHNOT ONLINE

Each year the ALSC selects a figure in childrens lit to give the Arbuthnot lecture. Now you can watch the 2011 lecture by Lois Lowry online for free. Click here to watch via the ALSC Blog.

Press Here by Herve Tullet. Currently #10 on the New York Times Children’s Picture Books bestseller list.

For those who know and love Tullet’s interactive stroke of genius, it’s time to stroll with an extra bounce in your step – Press Here is one of the 10 bestselling picture books in America this week. Click here to read the entire list.

Who knew a simple infographic could be so controversial? There were plenty of folks disagreeing with this one on librarians. What’s your opinion?

Click image to read the entire thing

(Thanks to Stephen’s Lighthouse for the link)

Never has this section of Morning Notes been so literal. Or so odd. What we have here is a video of books being played like a xylophone. All I know is, the end gets crazy.

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