February 2009 Carnival of Children's Literature: Valentine's Edition

I was excited to gather the posts from the talented and thoughtful KidLitosphere community for February's Valentine's Edition of the Blog Carnival of Children's Literature.

I posted the theme a few weeks ago, requesting blog links revolving around the themes of:

We Love Children's (and YA) Books.
Or
We Love Kid-Lit!

I was hoping for a Multimedia Carnival Extravaganza including audio, video, podcast, audio interviews, art, songs, animation, or whatever "beyond text" media kid-lit bloggers desired (and of course, plain text, too!) I asked, "Tell us what you love about reading, reviewing, writing, or illustrating children's (and YA) books. What do you love about getting good books into the hands of children and youth? What do you love (or even what breaks your heart) about the world of children's books?"

We have some great posts, so please take a look, because...

The always thoughtful Jen Robinson starts us off with how she feels about Getting Good Books into the Hands of Children. Wow! Here's a bit of what Jen has to say:

"I think that once they have basic food and shelter, good books are THE most important thing that we can give to children. Here are a few reasons why:

• Good books can be teachers, conveying knowledge on an endless variety of topics.
• Good books can be spaceships, opening portals into countless other worlds.
• Good books can be time machines, transporting kids to other time periods, past and future.
• Good books can be kaleidoscopes, helping kids to see things from other perspectives.
• Good books can be mirrors, helping kids to see themselves, and their motivations, more clearly.

Head on over to Jen Robinson's Book Page to read the rest. Good stuff! Jen's post above was partly inspired by Susan Stephenson's thoughts on empowerment and escape at Free Magical Gift - Advertisement posted at The Book Chook.

Becky Laney gives us Becky's Book Reviews: The Louis Armstrong You Never Knew with not only a review but a great play list of Louis Armstrong videos.

Z-Dad over at Bookie Woogie includes his children's comments and artwork about a little ball of panda glory. I love Z-Dad's full-family reviews full of kids' dialogue and art in response to the books they are reading. We're celebrating children's books here, so it's great to see what the kids have to say. Take a look.

Immersed here at The Imaginary Blog, I really enjoyed Book Aunt Kate Coombs' view on the Anarchy of the Imagination: Why I Love Children’s Books. I especially these sections:

"Together, children’s book writers conspire to build a vast, edgeless playground of the imagination where children can deal with surprising situations in surprising ways."
And...
"children’s book writers trust their young characters and the readers who accompany them to accomplish miraculous feats in the land formed from ink and myth."

Of course I'd be remiss if I didn't have a post for my own theme.
So here is my faster-than-jiffy-pop one-minute video that took hours to make!



Why I Write from Lynn H on Vimeo.

Pam Coughlan presents The Library: It’s a Place Where Books Are Free posted at MotherReader, saying, "I can't imagine the world of children's literature without the public library. They go together like peanut butter and honey (it's good, really.) And if my words can't convince, perhaps the video can." Thanks for pointing us to this fun video, Pam. Yikes, the tune is quite catchy!

Candace Ryan presents I Love KidLit! posted at Book, Booker, Bookest.

Pull out your crayons! Elizabeth O. Dulemba gives us something to color! Coloring Page Tuesday - Cupid Heart posted at dulemba.com. Elizabeth offers a coloring page every week.

Terry Doherty at Scrub-a-Dub-Tub, says, "Thanks for nudging me out of my comfort zone, Lynn!" Terry created a multimedia slideshow called For the Love of Reading.

Janelle Davis offers Brimful Bedtime Book Review - Love You Forever by Robert Munsch posted at Brimful Curiosities, saying, "Multimedia-The book review includes links to audio from the author's website as well as a few related YouTube links."
Janelle also includes a video link to a snippet of the Friends episode where Joey does a dramatic reading of Love You Forever.

Nancy Arruda's The Bestest Lauren Child at Bees Knees Reads site links to a fun video. Nancy says, "Hi Lynn, I think this post will work out for the multimedia Valentine's edition : ) Thanks!"


I loved the chicken playing the saxaphone at about 45 seconds in. Thanks Nancy

Little Willow brings back romance this month with slayground: SparkLife: Flashback Romance posted at Bildungsroman.

Eva Mitnick says, "sorry, this post is the opposite of multimedia!!" Children's books - an enduring addiction posted at Book Addiction. Eva has no reason to apologize for this perfect love story.

I think this might fit the "what breaks our hearts" category--another bookstore closing. Jenny Schwartzberg presents A Treasured Bookstore Says Adieu posted at Jenny's Wonderland of Books, saying, "I thought that this post's theme: getting good foreign language children's books into everyone's hands might fit part of your carnival's theme."

We've got more Book Reviews, too:

Steven Bush over at at Book Dads: Fathers That Read! presents Seven Miles to Freedom - The Robert Smalls Story.

Becky Laney presents Have You Seen This? posted at Young Readers.

TZT presents The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman, illustrations by Dave Mckean, 237 pp RL 5 posted at Children's Books: What, When & How to Read Them, saying, "Gaiman's 2009 Newbery Award winning book definitely deserves the gold, despite the macabre events in the first few pages of the story. Read my review of the book along with links to Gaiman's journal post from the day he won."

Mansur Ahmed reviews the movie at The Magical Beauty of Coraline posted at Mansur Ahmed.

Cheryl Tasses reviews Julianna Baggot's The Prince of Fenway Park by Julianna Baggot posted at Reading Rumpus, along with teaching support links." Cheryl also reviews Skeleton Creek by Patrick Carman.

Jane Heinrichs presents Book Signing and Reading at the Jake Epp Library posted at Jane Heinrichs, saying, "Photographs from a book signing and reading for my book, "Magic at the Museum", held at my old neighbourhood library."

Peter Jones reviews A Children's Book for Winter: A Folktale From Turks and Caicos posted at Great New Books that Are a Must Read.

Lori Calabrese presents Lori Calabrese Writes!: Say Daddy posted at Lori Calabrese Writes!, saying, "Lori reviews Say Daddy!- a picture book that encourages the love of reading."

For younger readers, Shen-Li Lee presents Gavin Recommends - The Great Photo Find posted at Babylicious.

Anastasia Suen celebrates Lincoln's 200th birthday with webcasts, podcasts, slideshows, reader's theater and books.

Okay, Imaginary Readers, thanks for taking a look at the We Love Children's (and YA) Books Valentines' Edition of the Carnival of Children's Literature. Please submit your blog article to the next edition of Carnival of Children's Lit using the nifty carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

Many thanks to Melissa Wiley at Here in the Bonny Glen for letting me host this month's Blog Carnival of children's Literature.

Technorati tags: carnival of children's literature, blog carnival.

Forecast: Who is hosting March?