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Great gift idea – How to raise the perfect puppy

From the bestselling author and star of National Geographic Channel's Dog Whisperer, the only resource you’ll need for raising a happy, healthy dog.


The 1981 edition (now out of print) of this little classic on puppy rearing was a word-of-mouth best seller. This substantially revised and expanded edition benefits from an additional decade of observation of puppy behavior by its authors and includes effective, up-to-date methods for educating puppies to become good canine citizens. Along with Job Michael Evans's The Evans Guide for Housetraining Your Dog (Howell, 1987), this is required reading for new puppy owners.

"This book may be as important for puppies as preschool is for children" -- (Dog Fancy)

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Brilliant, hugely ambitious, and life changing – The Book Thief

The Book Thief 

by Marcus Zusak


  • Format:  560 pages
  • Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers;
  • Published:  March 14, 2006
  • ISBN-13: 978-0375831003

Reading level: Young Adult

 Zusak has created a work that deserves the attention of sophisticated teen and adult readers. Death himself narrates the World War II-era story of Liesel Meminger from the time she is taken, at age nine, to live in Molching, Germany, with a foster family in a working-class neighborhood of tough kids, acid-tongued mothers, and loving fathers who earn their living by the work of their hands. The child arrives having just stolen her first book–although she has not yet learned how to read–and her foster father uses it,The Gravediggers Handbook, to lull her to sleep when shes roused by regular nightmares about her younger brothers death. Across the ensuing years of the late 1930s and into the 1940s, Liesel collects more stolen books as well as a peculiar set of friends: the boy Rudy, the Jewish refugee Max, the mayors reclusive wife (who has a whole library from which she allows Liesel to steal), and especially her foster parents. Zusak not only creates a mesmerizing and original story but also writes with poetic syntax, causing readers to deliberate over phrases and lines, even as the action impels them forward. Death is not a sentimental storyteller, but he does attend to an array of satisfying details, giving Liesels story all the nuances of chance, folly, and fulfilled expectation that it deserves. An extraordinary narrative.–Francisca Goldsmith, Berkeley Public Library, CA 
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.


Markus Zusak talks about the writing of The Book Thief

Pre Reading Activities

Book Club discussion notes

Reading Group Guide - discussion questions

Marcus Zusak talks about writing The Book Thief



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National Coalition Against Censorship Salutes Judy Blume

Some people may have difficulty finding humor in the issue of censorship. Thankfully, celebrated author Judy Blume isn’t one of them. Nor were the many actors, comedians, authors, and supporters who gathered at City Winery in New York City on Monday evening for “A Night of Comedy with Judy Blume & Friends.” Presented by the National Coalition Against Censorship, the event was both a celebration of the coalition’s 35th anniversary and an opportunity to honor Blume, who has actively battled censorship of her own books since the 1980s, and who has been on NCAC’s board of directors since 2000.

http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6703348.html?nid=2788&source=title&rid=1189609311

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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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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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Psst! Secrets of a Best-Selling Hack: Basic Rules for Writing Fiction

Thanks to Guy Kawasaki for this one ..
  • Steve Hely needed to know how to write very well in order to write as miserably as he does in “How I Became a Famous Novelist.” In a satirical novel that is a gag-packed assault on fictitious best-selling fiction, Mr. Hely, who has been a writer for David Letterman and “American Dad,” takes aim at genre after genre and manages to savage them all. You are invited to trawl the mass-market fiction in your local bookstore if you think Mr. Hely is making much up.
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Author throws party to benefit school


Children’s author Cynthea Liu believes in putting her money where her mouth is. And she’s succeeded in encouraging others to put their money down for a good cause. Liu, a native of Oklahoma and author of The Great Call of China, launched her second book for middle-grade readers, Paris Pan Takes the Dare (Putnam, June), with an online "slumber party," featuring an auction to benefit a Title I school in an impoverished and crime-ridden area in Oklahoma City. more » » »