Nonfiction Monday

Yes, I know you're too busy to read this today, but I wanted to post the location of the Nonfiction Monday roundup just so that you can amuse yourself later during the holidays by exploring this link.  The Jean Little Library blog has collected links to great articles about children's nonfiction for both last week and this week.  click on through and enjoy.

Each blogger list the books in their roundup collection differently -- The Jean Little Library blog has listed them in Dewey order!  But you don't have to be a librarian to appreciate that arrangement.

And if you want to see every last Best Of list available for 2012 children's books, check out this post at Chicken Spaghetti.

Happy Festivus

Today is Festivus
which means it's also time for the annual Airing of the Grievances.
 MotherReader has the skinny on this over at her blog.
There's also info about it in another blog entry of mine.

You can add your grievance to her blog -- or post it right here if you wish.

I'll start:
My biggest gripe right now is teenagers who think they can stay up at night watching Charmed or some other TV show playing on their iPhone and think they'll be able to get up in the morning in time for school.
or in time to go Christmas present shopping.
or in time for anything any event happening the next day.

What's yours?

The end of the World -- NOT

Well, if this is the end of the world, it didn't work.
Instead, it was the shortest day/ longest night.
Which means that everything will get brighter from now on.
(days getting longer/ sun getting stronger, etc.)

It's actually the winter solstice -- time to celebrate new beginnings.

What happened this year in Children's Literature?

Travis Jonker has gathered up ooooodles of miscellanea about the events in Children's Literature this year and has posted it on his blog, 100 Scope Notes -- with pictures!

Click on over and enjoy.

(Being a guy, he begins with a gross picture book illustration, but keep on keeping on -- it gets better.)

What makes you think you can write for kids?

Another thoughtful post from Marion Dane Bauer on her blog: Just thinking.

Gifts for Writers

Here's another list of possible Holiday Gifts. (pick your own holiday)

This time it's Gifts for Writers over on the Vermont College of Fine Arts Writing for Children and Young Adults' blog.  (all posts written by the faculty -- check it out -- it's called Write At Your Own Risk.)  

I see that she recommends a dog, but if you don't like the doggy smell and all the training involved with living with a dog, I recommend a cat, myself.

And for another list of good books, check out the NonFiction Monday roundup at the Wrapped in Foil blog.

Happy Birthday Sweet 13

Yup.
The 12-year-0ld is finally officially a teen.
She turned 13.

She is old enough to have a Facebook Account.
(However, when she tried to get an account, she got the same answer that I got when I first tried -- Facebook thinks that anyone with such a short last name must be giving a fake name.
Sorry Facebook.
Our name is real.

What a birthday party on Saturday!
It's been years since I drove a bunch of teens to a movie.
The noise of happy chatter in the back seat was almost overwhelming.
But the Movie complex was nice and easy to move around and to find where we needed to go, and the movie -- Rise of the Guardians -- was fantastic. We highly recommend it.

The rest of the day the teens talked (naturally), ate ice cream cake and pretzels, talked, watched videos, played board games (remember them?), played the piano, and talked and talked. Since it was a multinational group of teens, the videos varied from Bollywood dancers/ singers to clips from Les Miz.  (another movie that the teens can't wait to see.)

Happy Birthday Sweet 13-year-old.