
This week’s News Bites include info on Samsung’s competitions for teachers and students, 2 new picture book imprints, a new conference about kidlit in the digital age.
February 16, 2013
The world's largest reviewer of books, multimedia, and technology for children and teens
Phyllis Mandell is Managing Editor/Multimedia Review Editor for SLJ.

This week’s News Bites include info on Samsung’s competitions for teachers and students, 2 new picture book imprints, a new conference about kidlit in the digital age.

Move over Carrie Underwood, the Foo Fighters, Kanye West, and make way for the Okee Dokee Brothers—Joe Mailander and Justin Lansing. The group’s latest album, Can You Canoe?, nabbed the coveted 2013 Grammy Award for Best Children’s Album on February 10 at the star-studded awards ceremony held at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California.

Check out this week’s News Bites for information on a business-related competition for students and teachers, minigrants offered to teachers and librarians by the Ezra Jack Keats Foundation, and the latest publishing news.

Check out this week’s News Bites for the latest information on library grants, writing contest for young adults, and more.

This week’s round up of news bites includes recovery grants for libraries in Hurricane Sandy’s aftermath, information on free audiobooks for schools, and more.

For educators looking to make the upcoming U.S. presidential inauguration accessible to students, an online conference series launched by the Smithsonian Center for Education and Museum Studies offers the perfect solution.
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include a daytime telephone number. Please email letters to Phyllis Levy Mandell at pmandell@mediasourceinc.com.

This week’s round up of news bites includes five children’s music albums being nominated for a Grammy Award and libraries and museums coming together to support early learning efforts.

Looking for a great way to keep kids’ attention from wandering in class? We’ve got a solution: show them a film that’s so engaging, they’ll forget it’s part of the lesson. During the past year, we’ve reviewed nearly 300 DVDs aimed at the K–12 crowd. So how could we possibly select the 10 best? Well, it wasn’t as difficult as we thought. As we looked over our reviews, a pattern emerged, especially in light of the new Common Core standards.
Hope for Troubled Teens
I just wanted to say how insightful I found Amy Cheney’s article, “Time After Time” (Oct. 2012, pp. 36–39). I learned a lot from the article, including tips on what’s hot in Street Lit right now and the names of the well-known authors of the genre. I also appreciated her call to action for finding and purchasing self-published memoirs. I am really excited and inspired by her article and will try to get [...]

Check out News Bites for the latest information on what authors are doing to help out victims of Hurricane Sandy, the latest changes at Random House, a literacy campaign for kids in need, and more.

Watch a series of 17 interviews with children’s author’s for free, apply for book donation and literacy grants, get free writing rubrics, and much more—just check out this week’s News Bites for lots of great information for librarians, teachers, and everyone involved in education.

You can help provide books to schools and libraries devastated by Hurricane Sandy by making a donation to the organization First Book.

Frank Cottrell Boyce has won the Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize of £1,500 for his novel, The Unforgotten Coat (Candlewick, 2011), published in the UK by Walker Books. Established in 1967, the prize is unique because it is judged by writers. This year’s panel included children’s authors Tony Bradman, Cressida Cowell, and Kevin Crossley-Holland, and was chaired by Guardian Children’s Books editor Julia Eccleshare. The novel is the story of refugee brothers from Mongolia who live in Liverpool and examines the hard-hitting effects that immigration has on children.

Just how popular are audiobooks? Well, just check with your students. Along with the usual notebooks and textbooks in their backpacks, there’s bound to be tablets, ereaders, iPods, MP3 players, and, yes, audiobooks.
If the number of awards given to audiobooks—including the Audio Publishers Association’s Audie Award, the American Library Association’s (ALA) Odyssey Award, School Library Journal’s Best Audiobooks for Teens and Tweens, ALA’s Notable Audiobooks and Amazing Audiobooks, and a Grammy for the best spoken word album—is any [...]

Verizon’s App Challenge is designed to increase student interest in STEM while offering a project-based experience that develops teamwork among students. Groups of 5-10 students are encouraged to develop an app that addresses a need or problem in their school or community.

Get your students interested in the electoral process in the United States and globally with ePals World Election Center. The site includes projects and activities to reinforce K–12 students’ critical thinking skills and cultural awareness by having them learn about candidates, government, and more. Kids have the opportunity to voice their opinions about issues affecting them at home and learn about the elections abroad.







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