Tales from the Rushmore Kid

Kenji's Light of Hope Art Sale - Help elderly in quake-stricken Japan.

 

We all want to do something to help Japan. My good friend, music therapist, Yoshiko Yeto helped organise an auction fund raiser for the quake-stricken area of Japan. Here is the information.

 

Kenji's Light of Hope art sale, a fundraiser will benefit The Igari Music Therapy Research Center (MTRC) in Miyagi Prefecture, Japan.  The art sale at http://www.etsy.com/shop/KenjisLightOfHope?ref=pr_shop.

Some of the featured artists and musicians include: Alice Cohen, Phil Franklin, Georg Gatsas, Sam Henderson, Tim Hensley, Nigey Lennon, Naoki Mitsuse, Richard Sala, and Christine Shields.

Donna Guthrie - Meet Me at the Corner - Virtual Field Trips for Kids

I'm always surfing for new kid-friendly sites and was delighted to find that kidlit author Donna Guthrie has created a really cool one. Meet Me At the Corner - Virtual Field Trips for Kids is one impressive site.  It is loaded with interesting subjects and interviews. I asked Donna if she'd give us an interview for the blog.

How did you come up with the concept of virtual field trips for kids?

I was in the process of getting my MFA in Children's and Young Adult Writing from the Vermont College Program, when it came to me that there might be a new way to write nonfiction for the 21st Century Learner.

Book Blips- Class of 2K11 - Angie Smibert - Memento Nora

This Book Blip is a YA fantasy with an intriguing plot. I could easily see it as a  movie!

MEMENTO NORA will be hitting the shelves in April 2011.

SYNOPSIS:

Nora, the popular girl and happy consumer, witnesses a horrific bombing on a shopping trip with her mother. In Nora’s near-future world, terrorism is so commonplace that all she has to do is pop one little white pill to forget the incident and go on like nothing ever happened. However, when Nora makes her first trip to a Therapeutic Forgetting Clinic, she learns what her mother, a frequent forgetter, has been frequently forgetting. Nora secretly spits out the pill and holds on to her memories.

Denise Doyen - Poetry Tip of the Day

Last year a fabulous picture book in rhyme showed up at my door. Once Upon a Twice by Denise Doyen, illustrated by Barry Moser, is a beautiful cautionary tale. The language is so delicious that I wasn't surprised when it won as an E. B. White Read Out Loud Honor Book. I was delighted to finally meet Denise at the faculty dinner of the SCBWI Summer Conference and double delighted that she agreed to give us a Poetry Tip of the Day.

The Big Book of Spy Stuff - Bart King

Boy, oh boy, do I LOVE Bart King's books! Over the years I have had the pleasure of reviewing many, from The Pocket Guide to Mischief to The Big Book of Gross Stuff. Bart's books always make me laugh out loud. Reading his work has become as much a staple at our family gatherings as eating the mashed potatoes!  When I arrive, I am jumped by adults and kids alike, looking for the latest. I can't wait to show them The Big Book of Spy Stuff. Only Bart could make the creepy world of spying so hilarious. 

Bart begins with a spy scanning the reader's eye to see if he or she is cleared to continue reading. (No one is, which means every kid will keep on going.) The first chapter ends by pointing out that the really good spies are the ones you never hear about!

Librarian of the Day - Ann Wagner

Children's librarians are the superheroes of children's literature. Informed keepers of the gate, they struggle in these difficult economic times to bring books to us and our kids. Ann Wagner is no exception. I met Ann, who is also a poet, at a writing retreat in Santa Barbara this year. When I found out her day job was Youth Librarian for the Santa Monica Public Library Main Branch, I was anxious to interview her for the blog.

When and why did you become a children's librarian?

I graduated from San Jose State University with a Masters in Library and Information Science in December 2005, so I really haven’t been a librarian very long. Before that I worked in a variety of jobs—children’s bookstores, reference book publishers, a teen fan magazine, publications writer for nonprofits—and even got an MFA in writing (for adults; I won’t even tell you what my advisor said when I told him I was interested in writing for young people!)

Book Blips - Class of 2k11 - Amy Holder - Lipstick Laws

The Lipstick Laws
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Release: April 4, 2011

Short book summary: 
When April Bowers is befriended by queen bee Britney Taylor, she thinks her dull social life is getting brighter. That is, until she finds out that sometimes popularity comes with a price, especially when the Lipstick Laws are involved. 

Joan Bransfield Graham - Poetry Tip of the Day

Poet/photographer Joan Bransfield Graham is one of the first authors I met back in 1994 when I first joined the SCBWI.  Not only is beautiful Joan talented and a champion of the SCBWI, she is kind and funny.  Over the years, at many workshops, I have listened to her poetry, like music to my ears. Joan has published several books and is in one of the poets featured in Lee Bennett Hopkins' anthologies.  In honor of National Poetry Month, Joan has given us the Poetry Tip of the Day.

Kids lit bill passes in congress!

Last night, in a surprise move, the U.S. Congress passed a bill to make all purchases of children's books tax free.  Children's book stores across the country were stampeded by anxious parents who filled their shopping carts with all of the new releases.  Unanimously, all major publishing houses agreed to triple advances and royalties for their children's authors.

APRIL FOOLS!  SORRY, I COULDN'T RESIST.