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Hilarious Floridian adventure – Hoot – Lesson plans, activities, trailer and more

Hoot

by Carl Hiaasen

This author has turned to children's books, and applied a wonderful quirky humour.  The story has new kids, bullies, alligators, eco-warriors, pancakes, and pint-sized owls .... a hilarious Floridian adventure!

Go to http://www.pivotalkids.com/hoot.htm to read about the book, and find links to these

  • The trailer for the movie
  • Hoot Study Guide
  • Vocabulary pre-test
  • Hoot Book Reviews
  • Hoot Quizzes
  • Book Report Alternative: A Character's Letter to the Editor
  • Hoot Teacher's Booklet
  • Lesson Plan
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Kids’ Authors team up for “”Exquisite Corpse


 Plans are ramping up for the ninth annual National Book Festival in Washington, D.C., which will take place on September 26. For 2009, the Library of Congress and the National Children’s Book and Literary Alliance have teamed up with 18 children’s book authors and illustrators for a special presentation entitled The Exquisite Corpse Adventure, an ongoing story that will be unveiled over the course of a year. more » » »

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A Gripping thriller from Sophie McKenzie

Winner of the Red House Children's Book Awards

A Kid's Review

fab book
u can't put the book down, i have read all her other books and this is the best so far...

Read a synopsis here

Buy the book here

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With the movie coming soon – time to catch up with Percy Jackson (and use some lesson plans)

Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief

by Rick Riordan

The escapades of the Greek gods and heroes get a fresh spin in the first book in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, about a contemporary 12-year-old New Yorker who learns he's a demigod.

more synopsis ... also provides links to:

Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief is scheduled to release on February 12, 2010 in the United States.

Read an extract

Hear the first part of the book, as read by the author.

  • Video interview with Rick in North Carolina

  • Video interview with Rick in Cincinnati

For Teachers ...

  • The Lightning Thief: A Teacher’s Guide.

A complete Lightning Thief unit

  • The Lightning Thief: A Reader’s Guide.

  • Rationale. A curriculum rationale, based on NCTE models, for those teachers considering Percy Jackson for classroom use.

  • Literature Circle Questions

  • Biographical Information on Rick Riordan.

  • A Readers Theater from Lightning Thief.

  • Percy Party event guide.

  • Project ideas.

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Hilarious, dramatic, moving mayhem from Australian, well-loved children’s author

Andy Griffiths returns with the latest in the Just Series.  Accompanied by hilarious illustrator Terry Denton, he has created another amazing story.

Take one Shakespearean tragedy: Macbeth.

Add Andy, Danny and Lisa – the Just trio, whose madcap exploits have already delighted hundreds of thousands of readers for the last ten years.

more here

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Authors boycott schools over sex-offence register

    • Respected British children's authors Anthony Horowitz, Philip Pullman and Michael Morpurgo object to a new government scheme that requires them to register their names on a database in case they pose a danger to children

GETTY IMAGES

Respected British children's authors Anthony Horowitz, Philip Pullman and Michael Morpurgo object to a new government scheme that requires them to register their names on a database in case they pose a danger to children

  • A group of respected British children's authors and illustrators will stop visiting schools from the start of the next academic year, in protest at a new government scheme that requires them to register on a database in case they pose a danger to children.  ... more
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Chaos and colourful creativity in Neil Gaiman’s “Crazy hair” for kids

Crazy hair

by Neil Gaiman

Illustrated by Dave McKean

The duo responsible for The Wolves in the Walls (2003) return with another chaotic picture book popping with bright collage and multimedia imagery.

... more

---Listen to the author, Neil Gaiman reading his poem

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Creating imaginary languages and words in fantasy for children and young people


Creating languages and words is one of the most fun parts of writing fantasy. Careful, though! Incomprehensible gobbledygook can really put off readers, especially younger readers, but properly used, exotic names and fragments of other languages can really add to the rich and convincing texture of your book’s world. Here’s some tips based on my own experience.

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Advice to children’s book publishers

A school librarian wrote an open letter to book publishers with her top 10 list of suggestions for them, including “Better editing,” “Give that cover a makeover,” and “Stop changing the title in different countries.” more » » »

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Best kids’ books ever

In a column about the importance of keeping children interested in reading over the summer, Nick Kristof listed what he called the 10 "Best Kids' Books Ever."

His column generated more than 2000 comments, which can be viewed on Kristof's blog; many readers wanted to add their own favorites, while others, as Kristof wrote in a followup blog post, "pointed out that New York Times readers are probably the last people who need the advice to get their kids reading. And the kind of books that I and others mentioned (classics, white middle class protagonists, or animals that behave like middle class white families) may not resonate quite as much among poor kids who need to read." more » » »