Reluctant Reader Tips and An Art Contest

You know I love to encourage young readers--especially reluctant ones.
Here is a great post with six tips for reluctant boy readers.

And for any young local artists, the St. Louis County Library is sponsoring a YOUNG @ ART CONTEST for students in grades K-12. This is a chance to have your artwork on display. The contest starts November 1. Visit www.slcl.org for more information.

October Highlights Hidden Picture & More

Not much time left now to find all the hidden pictures at HIGHLIGHTS spooktacular online site. Scurry over and see if you can do it.

Or if you'd like to do some thrilling reading in the Halloween theme, go to my website where you'll find FRIGHTFUL READS.

Always popular this time of year is MAKE A SPIDER craft. I know I'd much rather make them than find them unexpectedly. The ones you make are soft and fuzzy. You can make them in a variety of colors and sizes--just right to frighten a friend, or not.

Your friends would certainly enjoy SPIDER SNACKS. They are a treat to make and yummy to eat.

And last but not least, a Halloween joke for you:

What kind of pants do ghosts like?

Boooo-jeans!

Jennifer Donnelly, Author of REVOLUTION

I had the great privilege of hearing Jennifer Donnelly speak this Wednesday. She is on the second week of her book tour for REVOLUTION--a story which bridges the centuries with the lives of two teenage girls.

Ms. Donnelly titled her presentaion, "The Past Is Present: Writing REVOLUTION." The story involves the French Revolution, but it also deals with the revolution inside each of us. The author said, "All the books I've written have taken me on a journey. This book's journey has been the most rewarding."

The idea for the story started with a news article in the New York Times about the heart of the last dauphin, the son of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. The dauphin died at the age of 10 while still imprisoned. His demise was one of the many tragic deaths during the Revolution's upheaval.

In REVOLUTION, Ms. Donnelly wanted to explore the cruelty of a world where the deaths of innocent children were almost overlooked. The dauphin's heart is still kept on display at the Basillica of St. Denis in Paris--a sad testimony to a tumultuous time.

Society of Children's Book Writers & Illustrators

I've been busy preparing for a presentation next month on November 6 at the Missouri SCBWI Conference.
I'm excited to have been asked to talk about "How to Get Published." So I'm trying to condense about a semester's worth of information into an hour and fifteen minutes. But writers are good at editing, right? :-)

The conference should be great fun. Lin Oliver, co-founder, and Steve Mooser, executive director of SCBWI, will be joining us this year. How cool is that?

Hope to see you there!

Picture Book Woes

THE NEW YORK TIMES printed a controversial article recently about the decline of picture books. The article presents children's book publishers and booksellers who note the drop in sales and an acceleration of young children toward chapter books.

Librarians were quick to respond. An excellent blog on the topic can be found at EARLY WORD. Blogger, Lisa Von Drasek, notes the importance of picture books in the lives of children. Picture books provide young listeners an exposure to higher level vocabulary as well as visual literacy. For a list of great read-alouds, check out this site, as well as more info on my website:

Read Aloud Wonders

Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Reading Aloud


Don't give up on picture books! Reading would never be as fun without these colorful, clever, WONDERFUL books.

Down Syndrome Awareness Month

October is Down Syndrome Awareness Month. My niece, Katie, has a beautiful son, Jack, who was born with this syndrome. Katie does an excellent job explaining the condition on her blog, HAPPY JACK AND BABY EVAN. Please stop by and read her revealing insights about Down snyndrome.
Check out these stats on Down syndrome.

Below is a short list of lovely children's books on this topic. Your library will probably have many more.

The Best Worst Brother by S. A. Bodeen

Victoria's Day by Maria Campos.

My Sister, Alicia May by Nancy Tupper Ling.

Russ and the Apple Tree Surprise by Jane Elizabeth Rickert

Scholastic Reading Survey

Scholastic recently released the results of a survey of children and parents on current reading trends. 86% of kids feel a sense of accomplishment after reading a book themselves. And while only 50% of kids consider reading enjoyable or important, 75% know they should read more.

The study also found that kids are drawn to electronic reading options. This information supports the growth of ebooks in children's literature. But the study also concluded that other technology options--like texting and online fun--can use up reading time opportunities for students.

For wonderful ideas on helping your child become a reader, visit the READING IS FUNDAMENTAL website.
And for some additional ideas, check out my website as well.

Happy reading!

How to Get Boys to Read

In recent years this has become an ongoing educational issue: boys are falling behind girls in reading. This is a serious problem. Students who don't read at grade level will not be able to succeed in school--or in the world.

A recent Wall Street Journal article presented interesting new information on this topic. A study conducted by Dr. Robert Weis of Denison University found that boys with video games available to them at home spent less time reading. It seems a rather simple and obvious finding, but it presents compelling evidence to the importance of limiting video play time. Instead, boys need easy and plentiful access to good reading material--which should be readily available through their school or local library.

Perhaps if parents spent more of their resources--time and money--on providing reading material for their sons and less on easy access to video games, there would be no literacy gender gap.

October Fun

HIGHLIGHTS Magazine has some fun October online activities.
Try your skills at Build a Scarecrow. Create the scarecrow of your dreams, then print your creation.

Or there is JACK-O-LANTERN MAKER. You can even make it glow.

While you're there, read a spooky story. MYSTERY OF THE HAUNTED HOUSE by Ellen Javernick is sure to scare you silly.

And if you want a snack to go with your story, mix a batch of SPIDER SNACKS. They're frightfully delicious.