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Together we looked for ‘cheese holes’, or spaces in the story that allow the audience to participate in, contribute further to, and augment the original story using their own intelligence and imagination.

Learn how one man changed the course of history during the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis in The Man Who Saved the World, a starred DVD from PBS.

Liar & Spy by Rebecca Stead Wendy Lamb/Random House Splendors and Glooms by Laura Amy Schlitz Candlewick Judged by Franny Billingsley

Shall I Compare Thee

They want me to compare you, the two of you.  But I don’t want to.  I’d rather compare you to a summer’s day, or to my Mistress’s eyes, or to anything but to each other.  How can I choose between you when I love you both, when you are each so different?  One of you temperate, the other anything but.  One of you shaking with rough winds, the other blooming with the darling buds of May.

But perhaps this is the wrong question.  Perhaps I need instead to ask, How do I love thee?

How do I love thee?  Let me count the ways.

Let’s start with you, Splendors and Glooms.

You are the kind of book I adored as a kid and still do.  You are The Wolves of Willoughby Chase; you are David Copperfield.  You are gothic.  Your words are like sugarplums, rich and sweet and a little spicy.  Your words describe orphaned children and fiendish adults.  They describe chilblains and secrets and locked towers.  They describe Dickensian mud and Dickensian characters.  It’s hard to out-Heep Uriah Heep, but your villainous Grisini, master of the greasy compliment, stacks up wonderfully well.  Your words describe a magical world; they leave sugarplum visions dancing in my head.  An opal that consigns its owner to a fiery death.  A fire opal in a filigree …

» Continue Reading: Round 1, Match 6: Liar and Spy vs Splendors and Glooms

From The Washington Post: Saving for an American Girl doll might take months or even a year. But now there’s a way for local kids to bring one home without paying the $110 price tag. Beginning this month, anyone with an Arlington County library card can sign up to borrow one of eight dolls for [...]

Slate senior editor Emily Bazelon has two new professions to add to her resume this year: acclaimed book author and school bullying expert, as positive reviews for her first book, Sticks and Stones , have been pouring in. In a recent interview with SLJ , Bazelon helps debunk some of the popular myths about bullying; offers insights and advice for educators, parents, and kids; and shares some of her most surprising discoveries while researching the book.

The American Library Association (ALA) will be selecting the presidents of its three youth divisions in the coming weeks, with voting opening tomorrow at 9:00 a.m. Central Time and closing at 11:59 p.m. on April 26, 2013. School Library Journal asked each of the candidates why they want to be president of their respective division, and what they would bring to the position. Here is what they had to say.

Be a Super Hero, Read! is a writing contest for kids in grades 3–6 sponsored by DC Entertainment and Capstone. Children are encouraged to write about a real super hero in their lives who has amazing human qualities such as courage, generosity, or imagination. Entries must be approved by the child’s librarian, teacher, parent, or guardian. Judging criteria includes originality, creativity, and heroism displayed.

Junior Library Guild editors select picture books perfect for the younger set who beg for a scary story, but are safe enough to prevent nightmares.

A rollicking tale of a swashbuckling rat, inspired by Alfred Noyes's Highwayman.