photo by pink sherbert www.flickr.com Clara Gillow Clark is holding a writing contest for students in grades six through ten. The contest goes until April 9. To enter the contest, you write a 250-word entry to one of these prompts from a book called Spilling Ink by Anne Mazer and Ellen Potter: Writing Prompt #1: [...]

photo by terren in Virginia One of the cute Easter books for kids is The Easter Egg by Jan Brett. In my opinion, you can never go wrong with Jan Brett books! *Picture book, fantasy for preschoolers through 2nd graders *Hoppi the young bunny as the main character *Rating: Say hello to one of the [...]

If you are a teacher, librarian, parent, or anyone really, you might be interested in taking some online classes about writing and social networking this spring and summer. I am teaching three classes through WOW! Women on Writing’s classroom and workshop program, and I am super excited! The first class I am teaching starts on [...]

photo by shoshanah www.flickr.com *Picture book for preschoolers through second graders *Princess Bess as main character Rating: Little girls who love princesses will love Princess Bess Gets Dressed, especially little girls who love princesses and underwear! (Now, I’ve peaked your interest, right?) Short, short summary: Princess Bess has a busy schedule. She has to dine [...]

Let’s hope that while we are reading about this fantastic-Caldecott-Medal-winning book, The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats that it is not snowing anywhere where you are reading this post. It’s spring or fall–wherever you are in the world, right? But still The Snowy Day is a timeless classic, and preschool and elementary school-aged children [...]

by Sister72 www.flickr.com I don’t have a lot of experience with junior high students, and so I’m not going to tell you what you should do to teach your middle school class or your kids in your home school about poetry during National Poetry Month 2010. And I’m in Florida on vacation, so I am [...]

photo by lel4nd www.flickr.com *Picture book for preschoolers through second graders, contemporary fiction *Little girl as main character *Rating: Smile by Leigh Hodgkinson will make you smile. One of the cutest picture books I’ve seen recently–I think kids and adults will love it! Short, short summary: Sunny is usually happy! But today, she can’t find [...]

photo by takomabibelot www.flickr.com If you haven’t heard by now, there’s a middle school teacher in Buncombe County, North Carolina who wrote LOSER on a student’s paper, and her parents are understandably (in my opinion) upset. (To see a video about this story, please go to: Yahoo News.) The teacher says he is only trying [...]

Nickel Shakespeare Girls by Clinton Steeds on www.flickr.com. According to Clinton, these girls can perform any scene from a Shakespeare play that someone in the audience calls out. *Middle-grade, tween contemporary mystery novel *6th-grade girl as main character *Rating: Shakespeare’s Secret is a remarkable book with a wonderful mystery that children and adults will love! [...]

Many children and tweens are familiar with Bridge to Terabithia because of the 2007 movie, starring Josh Hutcherson and Anna Sophia Robb. But this story is definitely a Timeless Thursday choice because the book has been around since 1977. And like many good books that stick around, people challenged it and tried to ban it [...]