Kidlit Happenings

I'm way behind on my blog reading after a few very busy days, but I'm catching up today and wanted to share some quick links for you to check out.

First, the January Carnival of Children's Literature is up at Lisa Chellman's blog, Under the Covers. There are links to lots of great book reviews, author interviews, book lists, and more.

Over at Jen Robinson's Book Page, in a post titled, "How Can We Encourage Reading Aloud," Jen talks about the importance of reading with kids and proposes the idea of starting an international campaign to encourage adults to read aloud with kids.

Jen says,

"I truly believe that if more adults spent time reading aloud to kids, both individuals and society as a whole would reap tremendous long-term benefits. More kids would grow up to love books. Those kids would do better in school than they would have otherwise, and have enhanced opportunities. Some of those kids would make major contributions to society - solving medical mysteries, inventing alternative energy sources, whatever - contributions that they would not have been able to make if they didn't have those educational opportunities."

I wholeheartedly agree with Jen and all of her points. Read the entire post here and the excellent conversation going on in the comments section.


Finally, MotherReader and a slew of fabulous kidlit bloggers have launched KidLitosphere Central. From the homepage of the site, " KidLitosphere Central strives to provide an avenue to good books and useful literary resources; to support authors and publishers by connecting them with readers and book reviewers; and to continue the growth of the society of bloggers in children's and young adult literature." Thanks MotherReader and everyone who worked to set up this fantastic resource!