You might have noticed this new widget I have on my sidebar, courtesy of JacketFlap and the Children’s Book Council. It is announcing several nominees for the Children’s Choice Book Awards. In case you didn’t know, the Children’s Choice Book Award nominees have been announced in each category: Kindergarten to second grade, third to [...]

photo by idovermani www.flickr.com
First, I want to apologize if this photo from Flickr.com makes you hungry for cookies and milk today if you are on a “healthy eating plan.” (That’s what I like to call a diet. ) But I won’t apologize for this great information I have to [...]

Today, I am so happy to interview Ronica Stromberg, author of A Shadow in the Dark, which I featured in yesterday’s “Tuesday Tales.” Don’t forget you can leave a comment on this blog post or yesterday’s for a chance to win this tween (which is basically younger YA) mystery book with Christian themes. For more [...]

It’s time for another book giveaway contest! Please leave a comment below for the author or about the book or simply, “Pick me!” And tune in tomorrow, author Ronica Stromberg is here to talk about her book and her writing career. You can leave a comment there, too, for another chance to win a [...]

photo by zipckr www.flickr.com
The 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver is on everybody’s minds, and it seems like on everybody’s TVs. If you log on to Twitter or Facebook, tweets and status updates about the Winter Olympics are inevitable, and so we know our children and teens are watching and listening, too. As [...]

photo by StrebKR www.flickr.com
Today is a Wacky Wednesday post because I have a few things to discuss that don’t really go together, so that’s why it’s wacky! First I want to introduce to you my new website! I have been using this blog as a kind of website for a while [...]

photo by tibchris www.flickr.com
I am so happy to hold this contest on my blog today for Hate List by Jennifer Brown. I am IN LOVE with this book. It is perfect for tweens and teens, and I think all parents and teens should HAVE to read it. It’s great for a mother-daughter book club. [...]

photo by d3 Dan www.flickr.com
Recently, my stepson who is in third grade completed a unit on rounding and estimating that I thought might get the better of his dad, his mom, me, and Logan, but we made it through! One of the first things I said to my husband when we were [...]

Florida Swamp photo by Peter Long www.flickr.com
*Middle-grade to tween (there’s some language in here–FYI ) contemporary fiction novel
*Middle-grade students Nick and Marta as main characters
*Rating: A good eco-mystery for kids with a quirky cast of characters, similar to Hoot and Flush by Carl Hiaasen.
Short, short summary: Scat has a main plot [...]

photo by Tetsumo www.flickr.com
On today’s Maniac Monday post, I am writing from a prompt I received from JuiceBoxJungle. First I’m going to answer the question as a parent and then as a teacher. Then I’m going to talk about how you could use this same writing journal prompt with your students and/or children [...]