Morning Notes: 6,000 Mile Edition

KIDLITCON: GO

Although I (shamefully) have yet to attend, I’ve heard nothing but good (nay, great) things about this annual gathering of children’s/YA literature-minded folks. This year the convention is being held in Seattle and hosted by Colleen Mondor (Chasing Ray) and Jackie Parker (Interactiver Reader). Bloggers, authors, librarians, and people interested in kid’s books should check it out. Click here for more details.

IF YOU ONLY FOLLOW ONE 6,000 MILE CHILDREN’S LIT ROAD TRIP THIS SUMMER…

…make sure it’s the one elementary school librarian (and my Top Books of 2010 partner) John Schumacher just completed. Photos, videos, and lots and lots of books. Click here to check it out.

BEST BOOK TRAILER – ANY OPINIONS?

And speaking of Mr. Schu, he’s one of the the judges for this year’s Trailee Awards. Sponsored by School Library Journal, the Trailees are given to the year’s best book trailer videos. You can submit your favorites for consideration, too. Click here for more info, including last year’s winners.

EISNER AWARDS AWARDED

The most prestigious awards in the comics world, the Eisners, were passed out last weekend and there are a couple children’s lit-related categories to report:

And speaking of Smile, creator Raina Telgemeier is on this week’s Katie Davis podcast. Click here to listen.

And a couple titles that won in general categories, but work for kids as well as adults:

Click here for a PDF file listing all the Eisner Award winners.

7 MORE ENCORE

You know that post that was making the rounds last week about children’s books written by famous adult authors? Sequel time! Click here to read.

READ AWAY YOUR TROUBLES

The New York Public Library is willing to waive kids’ overdue fees if they read. 15 minutes = $1. A very cool idea. I also like that it could lead to a catch 22 situation where a kid is reading her overdue book in order to pay for the fine on that same book. Click here to read about the NYPL plan.

COVER ART UNCOVERED

Uncovered Cover Art is a new blog devoted to reimagining children’s books. Seeing as how I’m in the midst of redoing every Newbery-winning book cover, you might guess that this sort of site is right up my alley. They even put my Caddie Woodlawn cover up over there. Click here to check out the site.

‘I LIKE TO WRITE VERY SMALL’

Attention obsessive note takers/tiny book lovers – your dreams have just come true.

Oh alright, it’s just a concept – you can’t actually purchase it. Click here to visit the site.

Skippyjon Jones, Class Action by Judy Schachner. Currently #1 on the New York Times Children’s Picture Books bestseller list.

First week out and Schachner’s latest takes the top spot. Click here to read the entire list.

Man am I outnumbered. Some good ol’ charts and graphs on librarian demographics. Click the image above to read.

(Thanks to Stephen’s Lighthouse for the link)

Do you love the Harry Potter movies and all, but wish they were a little more like She’s All That? The video below is an answer to your prayers.

(Thanks to BuzzFeed for the link)

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