What the Tweens are Reading

A day late, but what the heck.

Yesterday our tweens were being interviewed by NYPL's Jack Martin about what books they have been loving lately. No real big surprises, but I thought I would share the findings with you!

Percy Jackson series


Diary of a Wimpy Kid

The Clique

Twilight

Bookfest 2008

Well. Who knew that Brian Jacques was so funny?

After getting up early on Saturday morning, I headed over to the 42nd Street library, to take part in Bookfest 2008. Brian Jacques was the keynote speaker, and if you ever have a chance to hear this amazing author speak, you need to do so. After Jack Martin listed off his job descriptions prior to being an author, I knew that we were in for a treat.

Mr. Jacques told us stories. Stories about growing up in Liverpool. Stories about the library and second hand bookshop that he visited. Stories about his granddaughter Hannah, and about the children at a school for the blind that he used to read to. He told us stories about visiting schools, and the stories of the creations of some of his characters and some of the scenes that are found in the Redwall books. All of this was delivered with panache, and Jen and I found ourselves wiping the tears from our cheeks, we were laughing so hard.

Then it was time to switch gears and move on to book discussion. My group "Stories of Childhood" was well attended with attendees coming from all around New York State, and a few from Pennsylvania as well. We had a great discussion around the books, with Tasting the Sky, and The King of Mulberry Street garnering much of the attention. We were very privileged when Ibtisam Barakat sat down with us and became part of our group. The discussion became very passionate around the ideas of human rights, parenthood and writing outside of own experience.

The hour passed too quickly with a break for lunch where new and old friends could keep on talking books!

The afternoon brought an esteemed panel of Jeannette Winter, Ibtisam Barakat, and Walter Dean Myers discussing the timely topic of War and Peace in books for young people. Margaret Tice moderated, and each panelist spoke eloquently about why she or he wrote on the topic of war, and the tricky business of writing for young people.

Over all the day was inspiring and thought provoking. If you have never attended Bookfest before, do try it on for size if you are in the area. It is an amazing day!

Bookfest 2008

Up early on a Saturday morning!

I am heading over to the 42nd Street Library where I am taking part in New York Public Library's Bookfest 2008. I am a discussion leader again this year, and my group is called "Stories of Childhood". We will be looking at five fabulous books including A Thousand Never Evers, Tasting the Sky, The Red Necklace, The King of Mulberry Street and The Dragon's Child. I am so interested to get the participant's take on these titles.

NYPL's Bookfest 2007

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of attending New York Public Library's Bookfest 2007. The keynote speaker was Lois Lowry. She spoke eloquently on writing, censorship, and family, and she gave attendees a sneak peek into her soon-to-be-released title, The Willoughbys. What a great way to start the morning!

Following Lowry's address, I was a group leader for a book discussion called "How Mysterious!". Earlier in the summer, I chose 5 titles to bring to the group. Enola Holmes: The Case of the Missing Marquess, Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life, The Case of the Flying Zalindas, Gilda Joyce Psychic Detective, and The House Where Nobody Lived. I had a lively group of folks with librarians and educators from New Jersey, New York, Long Island, and Pennsylvania. We had a great discussion about the nature of mysteries, boy vs. girl readers, and coincidences! It was quite fun.

There were many other groups going on at the same time. The leaders and topics were as follows:

Jen Hubert - YA Dystopian novels

David Mowery - YA Comedy (What's So Funny?)

Kimberly Paone - YA Dark and Creepy

Rachel Payne - A Caldecott Retrospective

Karen Smith - Picture This (Imagination and Reality in Illustrated Picture

Books)

Rosanne Cerny - Urban Places, Urban Spaces (Picture Books)

Lisa Von Drasek - No Drama Here (Middle Grade Fantasy)

Susan Pine - Wind Beneath My Wings (Middle Grade)

Rita Auerbach - Illustration Innovation (Middle Grade)

Randall Enos - Difficult Times (Cross Over fiction)

After a yummy boxed lunch and some chat time, attendees were treated to a panel on technology and art. The speakers for this session were William Low, J. Otto Seibold, and John Grandits.

A great time was had by all!