Picture Book Den: Out For The Count - (Guest Blog) by Jonathan Emmet...

Picture Book Den: Out For The Count - (Guest Blog) by Jonathan Emmet...: Why are publishers becoming adverse to longer picture book texts? An insightful article on the Picture Book Den.

What Fun!

This is so much fun. After critiquing a rhyming story of mine for RhyPoIdMo, Maria Cuesta did this watercolor of the main character which she was generous enough to share with me, all the way from Spain! Thanks Maria!

View From the Circ Desk, Part 2

Here's what's hot in the children's library for May/June:

Biographies- local classrooms are doing reports on "people who inspire you".
Gardening- the garden club has a children's garden and they have been sending children to the library to look for gardening books.
Summer topics
Summer reading lists- the librarian compiles a recommended summer reading list that goes home with all the school children

2014 Kids Summer Reading List

Horn Book came out their kidlit summer reading list! It was posted on metro kids.com. Time to hit the hammock with a good book.

2014 Kids Summer Reading List

47 Charming Facts About Children's Books -John Green

John Green is so much fun, and so great to listen to! Here he is on Mental Floss.

Revisions

I have been learning more about making revisions and I have been collecting some useful on-line resources. They include:

Filter Words, on Writing Life by Susan Dennard Filter words not only increase the word count unnecessarily, they make the story seem more passive instead of active.

I Told You by Janice Hardy with some helpful pointers on how to "Show, not Tell", the picture book writers mantra!

Check out Margot Finke's self-editing fact sheet which is full over other words that can be cut.

Remember the three R's for writing picture books, Revise, Revise and umm, Revise.

The Year of the Salamander

I spent a morning learning about our state's salamanders. We looked under rocks and flipped over logs. We found egg cases floating in a vernal pool and saw a pregnant salamander that was only weeks from becoming a mother. We learned some fun facts about these amphibians. Salamanders are the most populace vertebrate in the forests of CT and are a good indicator of the health of the environment. Some salamander moms, including the common red-backed salamander are protective and will guard their eggs.

The sounds of springtime, one of my favorite things!