It’s that time of year again…yes, the leaves are turning beautiful shades of orange and brown, kiddos are going back to school and the call for Cybils Awards judges has been sent out!

Each year the wonderful organizers behind The Cybils, the Online Children’s and Young Adult Bloggers Literary Awards, make a call for judges. Last year I had the privilege of serving as a Fiction Picture Book Judge and had a brilliant time! Not only was I able to read a set of marvelous picture book finalists, but I also spent time with some of the finest people in the book reviewing world. My co-judges were people I’ve long admired and I considered it a great privilege to discuss so many of my favorite books with them.

As a panelist or a judge you are able to read and select the best of the best books that were published during the year. There are a variety of panels to choose from (though you are only asked to sit on one if selected), including a new panel just created this year! Book Apps will now be incorporated as a category for the awards and it’s one I’m very excited about, as you could have probably guessed. The new panel organizer Mary Ann Scheuer from Great Kid Books is leading the way and I’m sure it will be a huge success. Here are the other categories you can volunteer for:

Easy Readers/Short Chapter Books
Fantasy & Science Fiction
Fiction Picture Books
Graphic Novels
Middle Grade Fiction
Non-Fiction Picture Books
Non-Fiction: Middle Grade & Young Adult
Poetry
Young Adult Fiction

From what I understand they are earnestly seeking more applicants in the poetry and book app categories as well as a few good guys that might be interested in participating.

Make sure to submit your application to be a Cybils Judge before the September 15th deadline! For those that are selected I’m positive you’ll have a wonderful time and absolutely discover new books & bloggers you’ll love!

First of all, Happy Read Across America Day! And Happy Birthday to Dr. Seuss! What better way to celebrate a birthday than with books? Want to know a little more about the event? Take a look at this synopsis from the main Read Across America Day site and then head over there to take the pledge to participate by reading to the children in your life!

What is NEA’s Read Across America?
NEA’s Read Across America is an annual reading motivation and awareness program that calls for every child in every community to celebrate reading on March 2, the birthday of beloved children’s author Dr. Seuss.

NEA’s Read Across America also provides NEA members, parents, caregivers, and children the resources and activities they need to keep reading on the calendar 365 days a year.

In cities and towns across the nation, teachers, teenagers, librarians, politicians, actors, athletes, parents, grandparents, and others develop NEA’s Read Across America activities to bring reading excitement to children of all ages. Governors, mayors, and other elected officials recognize the role reading plays in their communities with proclamations and floor statements. Athletes and actors issue reading challenges to young readers. And teachers and principals seem to be more than happy to dye their hair green or be duct-taped to a wall if it boosts their students’ reading.

Also, if you’re on Facebook, and who isn’t? Take a look at the Dr. Seuss Books on Facebook page for a chance to win 3 of the best Dr. Seuss books ever!

So, which are your favorites? Are you reading any Dr. Seuss books today? Our pick for the day would definitely be Hop On Pop! It’s been both Turkeybird and Littlebug’s favorite from the very beginning!

Next, if you are a parent, teacher, librarian or just someone looking for great ways to improve children’s literacy you need to be on the lookout for these next two items…

The Book Chook’s quarterly Literacy Lava has just been released! Literacy Lava 8 is out now! No doubt this will be an excellent resource for anyone who is around children at all. You’ll find tips on reading aloud, creative thinking, starting your own toddler book club and more. Don’t miss this issue and past issues, if you haven’t read them already, it will be a great resource I’m positive!

The last item I want to bring your attention to is one readers may remember from last year, Share A Story Shape A Future. This week long literacy event is one that unites the online community in sharing ways to improve, incorporate and encourage literacy with children. It’s something I’m incredibly proud to be a part of and this year I will be hosting the third day, Wednesday the 9th of March, in which we’ll be discussing literacy for the future. We’ll be chatting about technology, from apps to book trailers to eReaders and how the work into the equation of Literacy 2.0. It’s sure to be a fantastic event and I can’t wait for each and every day! Here are the other topics to look forward to:

• The Power of a Book – From the literal power of owning a book and a good story to the intangible power that comes with knowing how to read.
• The Gift of Reading – Whether you’re looking for a book to excite a reader, want to help someone learn to read or celebrate the “gift” … it’s covered.
• Unwrapping Literacy 2.0 – With all of the talk of digital literacy, e-readers, etc. What does “literacy” look like in this new century?
• Love of Reading v. Homework – Do they have to be at odds? We’ll talk about ways to help readers at home and at school.
• The Gift that Keeps on Giving – To wrap up the week we’ll be remembering “that moment” when we realized we were a reader or writer and how to celebrate it with others. Lots(!) of interviews this day.

It begins next week, March 7-11, so make sure to add the Share A Story Shape A Future site to your reader and get ready for some incredible information!

I absolutely adore this time of year, if for no other reason than all the literacy activities going on around the internet! What about you? Are you looking forward to any of these events, or possibly already planning to participate? I’d love to know!

Each year since 2006 a group of bloggers has gotten together to share their love and passion for the very best in children’s literature. From beginning picture books to young adult books the best books published that year are nominated and then judged by panels of “experts”. These “experts” can range from librarians to teachers to online book reviewers, all with an incredible passion for the books they surround themselves with. So, this year, when the call to submit for participation on the 2010 Cybils Judging Panels was announced you could probably guess I jumped in with both feet first. And guess what?…

I’m so excited to announce that I have been selected to be a part of the amazing team, lead by non-other than Pam from MotherReader, that will be judging Fiction Picture Books! I’m so incredibly honored and excited to be a part of this amazing group of people. Take a look at who else I will be working with:

The 2010 Fiction Picture Books Panel
Panel Organizer: Pam Coughlan, MotherReader

Panelists (Round I Judges):

Emily Beeson, Homespun Light
Pam Coughlan (see category organizer)
Travis Jonker, 100 Scope Notes
Natasha Maw, Maw Books
Dawn Mooney, 5 Minutes for Books
Kiera Parrott, Library Voice
Jennifer Wharton, Jean Little Library

Judges (Round II):

Becky Bilby, In the Pages
Katie Davis, Brain Burps About Books
Tess Goldwasser, Kid’s Book Blog
Melanie Hope Greenberg, Mermaids on Parade
Danielle Smith, There’s a Book

It’s definitely an honor and I’m so excited to see which books make it to the judging round! Nominations open on the 1st of October and the only requirement is that the book was published during this last year. Start turning those wheels and get ready, because it’s going to be your turn soon to throw your hat in the ring by nominating your favorite books this year, which ones do you think you’ll choose?

Are you a fan of any of these children’s book authors?
Mac Barnett, Judi Barrett, Artie Bennett, Vanessa Brantley Newton, Mike Cavallaro, Nina Crews, Shane W. Evans, Brian Floca, Aimee Friedman, Charles Fuller, Adele Griffin, Jenny Han, Isabel Hill, Tad Hills, Michelle Knudsen, Nancy Krulik, E. Lockhart, Torrey Maldonado, Kate Milford, Kirsten Miller, Lauren Oliver, Mitali Perkins, Chris Raschka, Matthew Reinhart, Michael Rex, Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich, Sergio Ruzzier, John Rocco, Jon Scieszka, Sara Shepard, Rebecca Stead, Francisco X. Stork, Tiger Beat, Laura Toffler-Corrie, Anjali Wason, Jacqueline Woodson
(Emphasis are just a few of our favorites.)

Do you love to read, meet authors, talk about books, and live near New York?

Then you don’t want to miss The Brooklyn Book Festival!

A bit about the festival itself:

This is the fifth anniversary of the renowned Brooklyn Book Festival, a free, literary celebration that showcases more than 200 national and international authors in readings and panel discussions as well as 175 booksellers, publishers, presses and organizations in an outdoor literary marketplace. The festival is a premier literary event in New York City, with more than 30,000 attendees from around the world. The all-star literary lineup, including Salman Rushdie,Naomi Klein, Colson Whitehead, Mary Gaitskill, Paul Auster, Rosanne Cash, Paul Krugman, Amy Goodman, John Ashbery, Gary Shteyngart, Francine Prose, Dennis Lehane, Pete Hamill, Jennifer Egan, Russell Banks, Michael Connelly, John Hodgman,Kristen Schaal, Thurston Moore, Sam Lipsyte, Sloane Crosley, Paul Harding, Maaza Mengiste, Marlon James, Jean Valentine, Elizabeth Nunez and many, many more, as well as children’s and young adult Lit stars like Rebecca Stead, Sara Shepard, Jacqueline Woodson, Jon Scieszka, Francisco X. Stork, Jenny Han, Mac Barnett, Tad Hills, Chris Raschka, Lauren Oliver, E. Lockhart, Michael Rex and Matthew Reinhart.

This year it will expand to include three days of special themed events “bookending” the Festival from September 10-12 in partnership with cultural organizations like BAM, Bell House, The Brooklyn Kitchen, Brooklyn Public Library, Greenlight Bookstore, Littlefield, St. Ann’s Warehouse, PEN American Center, Irondale Center, Brooklyn Public Library, powerHOUSE, Debut Lit, WORD, Light Industry, Triple Canopy, Mainspring Collective and more!

The video below highlight a few of the great authors making an appearance at this years event.

For info visit: www.brooklynbookfestival.org
Become a fan on Facebook! http://bk.ly/sZO
Follow BKBF on Twitter @bkbf

So, you tell me, do you live nearby and are you planning to attend? If we weren’t in CA we would definitely be there!

In an attempt to inform you my readers about the happenings with both The Turkeybird and Littlebug I decided a State of Things was in order. I mean heck, The President can do it, why not us?

Recently, I mentioned that Littlebug had acquired, quite literally, a taste for good books. Well, the proof is in the picture:

Needless to say this is a disgrace to all books…so sad.

I stumbled upon Jan’s wonderful blog this week (Eating Y.A. Books) and found this quote, “Very young children eat their books, literally devouring their contents. This is one reason for the scarcity of first editions of Alice in Wonderland and other favorites of the nursery.” by A.S.W. Rosenbach.

Can I just say perfect? I can’t tell you how many times both the Turkeybird and Littlebug have been asked, “to take the book out of their mouth!” Books are for the eyes and the heart not the mouth, but it doesn’t do much good saying this at such a young age. So, in my reluctance to have “nicer” books “eaten” I have a pile of these few books sitting in a very accessible place on the bookshelf in the case I can not reach them quickly enough to rescue said book. Yes, I know, shot me! I sacrifice one book for the life of another, but it’s what you have to do around here. And actually it’s working quite nicely. I’m happy to say that with the implementation of this particular program we have successfully saved all other books on the shelf.

Mission accomplished. Expect more State of Things in the future as well as a few reviews this coming week.

Now, back to your regular scheduled programming.