A legend among children's book authors himself, Seymour Simon writes a very touching tribute here to Jean Craighead George, author of Julie of the Wolves and My Side of the Mountain among many, many others. Wonderful author, wonderful lady.

Have a minute to read what other in the profession are saying about children's literature?  Pick a blog or two from this list provided by the organizers of KidLitoshpere, a conference of The Society of Bloggers in Children’s and Young Adult Literature. Look them over and think about setting up one or two with an RSS feed to your email. Or if you find they're something you can recommend to the parents of your students or your staff, put one or two on your web page to share. The page says the specific blogs were "chosen both for authority and for variety of topic areas."

My apologies for not getting you information on this earlier (thanks Sharon for bringing it to my attention).  If nothing else mark your calendars for next year (in August) to go to Candlewicks website for their packet to help you plan and celebrate International Dot Day! Meanwhile maybe some of you can still take advantage of the event by sharing Peter Reynolds book "The Dot" with your patrons during what is left of this week and next.                                                            Katie

Jarrett J. Krosoczka makes a mockery of Jon Scieszka on YouTube, and Jon wants revenge. Now, Jon will stop at nothing to keep Jarrett from hosting the 2012 Children's Choice Book Awards Gala in New York City. He rounds up all his children's book author friends and they do their absolute darndest to keep Jarrett away from the Gala, but Jarrett is determined to be there! Will he make it in time?!?!http://bit.ly/KLoFxe